{"id":2057,"date":"2024-05-23T18:51:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T18:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2057"},"modified":"2024-05-23T18:51:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T18:51:55","slug":"listen-before-you-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/listen-before-you-leap\/2057\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen Before You Leap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The chair\u2019s voice droned on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Agenda item number 12.2\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This had been the longest day of my life, and we were barely halfway through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018All in favour?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a unanimous show of hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had all learnt from previous meetings. Any dissent to his proposals would mean even more procrastination, and would mean an all-nighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My stomach growled loudly. Simkins, from Accounts smirked at me from across the table. The new secretary, Miss Jones, sent a haughty look my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the company\u2019s new health regimes was \u2018no biscuits\u2019. It was the only thing that had got me through the endless hours of these interminable meetings. At least when I was eating, I was more alert. I stifled a yawn behind the ream of the previous minutes, which I hadn\u2019t bother reading. I couldn\u2019t remember if I\u2019d actually read the agenda for today either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could see that Pat from Sales, had already successfully managed to write her shopping list under the table, and William from Dispatch had finished the Times Crossword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stan, the sycophant deputy CEO, was nodding affirmatively at everything that the speaker said. He reminded me of one of those toys I had as a boy, a drinking giraffe that would bob up and down once you set it in motion. With this thought of my childhood so clear in my mind, I realised that all those present resembled old toys. That had to be a good few hours of entertainment to match them up, in order to while away the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no idea which point of the Agenda we had reached, there was a pregnant pause, which broke into my time wasting. There seemed to be a need for action. Automatically my hand shot up.  I wondered why everybody else had held back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Well done, Jones, I knew we could count on you.  Thank you for volunteering.  You have made a tough decision easy for the Board.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I slowly recoiled my hand, not having the faintest idea what he was talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the meeting, all present came over and shook my hand,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The office will not be the same without you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We must keep in touch.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Perhaps we can meet later for a few drinks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I slowly began to realise that I\u2019d volunteered for redundancy. There was no backing out now. They had witnesses. Human Resources were already to wipe me out of existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to talk to my wife before anyone else did. She\u2019d understand, wouldn\u2019t she?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was only fifty-seven. I\u2019d been at the same company for over thirty five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would I do now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then it came to me.  I could eat as many biscuits as I liked.  Spend all my afternoons in meaningful ways and not be bored to death at meetings.  Yes, I think early retirement\/redundancy and I will get along very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chair\u2019s voice droned on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Agenda item number 12.2\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This had been the longest day of my life, and we were barely halfway through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018All in favour?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a unanimous show of hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had all learnt from previous meetings. Any dissent to his proposals would mean even more procrastination, and would mean an all-nighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My stomach growled loudly. Simkins, from Accounts smirked at me from across the table. The new secretary, Miss Jones, sent a haughty look my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the company\u2019s new health regimes was \u2018no biscuits\u2019. It was the only thing that had got me through the endless hours of these interminable meetings. At least when I was eating, I was more alert. I stifled a yawn behind the ream of the previous minutes, which I hadn\u2019t bother reading. I couldn\u2019t remember if I\u2019d actually read the agenda for today either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could see that Pat from Sales, had already successfully managed to write her shopping list under the table, and William from Dispatch had finished the Times Crossword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stan, the sycophant deputy CEO, was nodding affirmatively at everything that the speaker said. He reminded me of one of those toys I had as a boy, a drinking giraffe that would bob up and down once you set it in motion. With this thought of my childhood so clear in my mind, I realised that all those present resembled old toys. That had to be a good few hours of entertainment to match them up, in order to while away the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no idea which point of the Agenda we had reached, there was a pregnant pause, which broke into my time wasting. There seemed to be a need for action. Automatically my hand shot up.  I wondered why everybody else had held back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Well done, Jones, I knew we could count on you.  Thank you for volunteering.  You have made a tough decision easy for the Board.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I slowly recoiled my hand, not having the faintest idea what he was talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the meeting, all present came over and shook my hand,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The office will not be the same without you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We must keep in touch.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Perhaps we can meet later for a few drinks.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I slowly began to realise that I\u2019d volunteered for redundancy. There was no backing out now. They had witnesses. Human Resources were already to wipe me out of existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to talk to my wife before anyone else did. She\u2019d understand, wouldn\u2019t she?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was only fifty-seven. I\u2019d been at the same company for over thirty five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would I do now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then it came to me.  I could eat as many biscuits as I liked.  Spend all my afternoons in meaningful ways and not be bored to death at meetings.  Yes, I think early retirement\/redundancy and I will get along very well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chair\u2019s voice droned on. \u2018Agenda item number 12.2\u2019 This had been the longest day of my life, and we were barely halfway through. \u2018All in favour?\u2019 There was a unanimous show of hands. We had all learnt from previous meetings. Any dissent to his proposals would mean even more procrastination, and would mean an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1129,1266],"tags":[1294,95,13,1297,1296,157,12,126,1295,765,191,745,74,11,117],"class_list":["post-2057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1129","category-may-2024-escape","tag-agenda","tag-had","tag-me","tag-mean","tag-meetings","tag-more","tag-my","tag-new","tag-previous","tag-table","tag-there","tag-through","tag-up","tag-was","tag-would"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-xb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2060,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions\/2060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}