Mangolia

My Dear Fellows & Dear Princess,

Mike Strachan was a nice man, and a nice manager. There are not too many instances where those two traits overlap, so luxuriate in that for a moment.

Okay. Moving on.

I liked him because he tolerated, nay encouraged, my bonkersness. Such as when I suggested that instead of forcing everyone to take the Q12* test to determine the degree of Employee Engagement at Work, the company should instead buy all of the employees a Fuzzy-Felt Farm.

"That way you'll be able to monitor employee engagement in an ongoing fashion," I argued. "For example, if a bunny is riding a tractor, you will know that things are going really well."

Mike, bless him, presented me with my own Fuzzy-Felt Farm at our next team meeting. It worked its magic. People loved coming to my desk to put a hat on the sheepdog. Employees. Engaged. Just saying.

Mike came to mind today because I was listening to Save Me by Aimee Mann, which is featured in the film Magnolia. Except Mike (bless him again) announced in another meeting that he'd seen this BRILLIANT film called... errrrr... "Mangolia".... he thought...

If Mangolia were a place, I would move there tomorrow.

I'm not sure why, but I've spent all of today listening to 1990's singers like Aimee. I've just been in an introspective mood, I guess. So there has been lots of Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos and Natalie Merchant. 

I'm also very fond of Aimee's version of Drive, and if I have not linked to it before, then here it is now. 

As for Mike, I hope he is doing well. As a nice man, and a nice manager, he was naturally canned by Slack about 2 months after the Fuzzy Felt Farm incident because hey, we don't pay managers to be not rubbish. Here's hoping he's now lying on a beach somewhere in Mangolia with a fruity cocktail in his hand.

S.

* A series of 12 questions with answers ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" where the questions were things like, "I am encouraged in my career development!" and "I feel supported by my manager!"

This being a Scottish company, many felt like that "Strongly Disagree" should have been replaced by "Strongly Get Tae F***" although I would never of course have expressed this opinion out loud in the pub after work so put that thought right out of your mind.