Memories of work

 

I was thinking the other day ... a light came up on my head and switched on. You know ... like in cartoons when a light comes on above your head when you get an idea. 

By the way ... you might know the answer to this ... when Thomas Edison first thought of inventing a light bulb; what came up and lit above his head? Was it a lit candle? Or what? Because no light bulb had been invented until then.

And when Marconi invented the telephone; who did he phone? No one else had a phone at the time except him!

Anyway ... stop interrupting my thoughts!!!

I was thinking the other day to the time I worked for a big multi-national. There were four of us sharing an office. It was the days before open-plan with lots of people working in a large open space like chickens laying eggs.

One of the people in our room was X. A very nice guy, but rather eccentric. Like the sort of eccentrics you sometimes find in England. Very well-educated, from a good background and good "breeding". Well spoken in an authentic English upper-class accent. Dry sense of humour well hidden because he was always serious as if conducting a funeral. 

He dressed soberly too. Always a jet black three piece suit made of top quality material. He had a gold chain hanging out of a button hole in his jacket and led to a small pocket in which he had a gold watch. He would pull out the watch and open the cover to tell the time. 

All in all, he lived in the wrong century. He would have fitted well in Dickensian times or somewhere like it in the past.

A very kind person but very peculiar at times.

He used to always feel cold. He always kept the windows shut in our room and had the radiators full on. If any of us came in and left the door open accidentally, or perhaps we were carrying files or boxes, he would stare at us and say nothing. You could feel his gaze burning into you. He would snort like a horse to draw your attention but say nothing.

"Prffftttt ..." you would hear behind you. 

Once one of our colleagues did not realise what it meant and he said to her, "Madam would you please do me the honour of shutting the door behind you so that the warmth may not escape!"

She silently obliged and gave us a smile.

On another occasion the boss came in and asked him a question about some financial matter. He looked at him and said, "I shall not respond until you kindly shut the door!" 

We sat there astounded and wandered what would happen next.

The boss was very polite and tactful. He left the room and shut the door behind him.

No doubt the matter had been dealt with privately off camera later.

He had the habit of taking his shoes off when in our shared room. His socks were very clean, so no problem there. But he walked everywhere in the room with no shoes.

One day, towards 6:00pm there was only me and him in the room. He was at the other end searching for some files. I hid his shoes in his desk drawer and went home.

He said nothing the next day; but generally did not take his shoes off.

I used to play tricks on him. You'd remember old style telephones had a separate hearing piece and microphone on a large handle.

I unscrewed the hearing piece and stuck some Sellotape on the little holes of the speaker and screwed the thing back on. Then I went to the other end of the room and phone him disguising my voice.

He'd pick up the phone and shout, "I can't hear you!!!"

On another occasion I used double sided sticky tape and stuck his ruler to the desk. It was fun seeing him pick it up. He'd never say anything but stare at us and snort. We did not dare to laugh and looked down on our desks pretending to be busy.

I wonder where he is now. Bless him ... coming back to memory without notice.