"I've Got a Posting in Thailand!"

 

A few years ago I was at work on an outdoor street when I saw somebody I recognized, a woman I shall call "Shirley"; I actually can't remember her real name. This is a lady who started work at OxRad in 2006 as an administrator for Carillion when they first arrived, making her one of the "plank-owners" of that very prestigious contract. I never liked Shirley, always finding her rather snooty and smug. She also seemed to return that same feeling to others, at least anybody who was beneath her in the hierarchy. Despite this, she greeted me warmly enough and I wondered if she had left Carillion and therefore all that corporate bitchiness had drained out of her. A minute later I realized that it had not and she had actually not left the company. In fact she boasted lavishly that she had just been offered a posting to Thailand. Carillion were contracted to build a hotel and leisure complex in that country connected to a motor racing circuit. They had a deadline to finish the job in time for the next Thai Grand Prix. "Ever since I joined Carillion I've always wanted to work in Thailand." she gushed. "I'll be over there eighteen months; big salary, all expenses covered." She went on for a few more minutes and as she did I got the distinct impression she was lauding it over me. This was confirmed when she looked down at the shopping bags I was carrying, as part of a job I do for an old lady, and said wistfully: "That could have been you, you know, Ben. You could be where I am right now. I was just a junior admin officer when I started out in the Radcliffe contract, but I worked hard and climbed the ladder. You could have done the same."
    I felt insulted and was tempted to add that along with working hard she had kissed an awful lot of arse. This woman was essentially giving me the internal Facilities equivalent of "popping the question", see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2022/10/popping-question-responses.html. However I just shrugged and said: "I have no regrets." Soon afterwards our conversation ended. We wished each other goodbye and I never saw her again. I don't how she got on in Thailand, but I imagine it was not the luxury adventure she hoped it would be because a couple of years later Carillion folded amidst an enormous scandal, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2018/01/carillion-collapse-update.html. The reason I never achieved the conventional success Shirley did was nothing to do with a lack of abilities or ambition on my part; it was because I know how the management promotion structure of a public sector contractor works and to ascend that stinking stairway you have to be the "right kind of person", meaning somebody who talks like a robot and looks like a waxwork. You have to be able to stomp on your rivals and smile sweetly at your superiors in order to advance to the next stage. Eccentricity and uniqueness are not tolerated, let alone having an independent set of principles and the willingness to act in accordance with them. No, I was a basic grade porter for twenty-three years. Occasionally I acted up as a working senior or even full senior, but only to cover leave. I was never considered for promotion, never got that quiet word in the ear advising that I would do well to apply for this post or that post. It took me a while to realize that I was being paid an enormous compliment.