notebook

So that's me waiting outside my managers office for part two of the annual staff appraisal - our rating. The rating is crucial to the future of your career at my employer. Five is average, with a three you're in trouble. Anyone getting a one discover one day their badge doesn't open the parking garage door.

I'm generally not worried about these things - there are more important things in the world - but it's more about how your score compares to those of your colleagues, especially the ones below you in the organogram. To get a low score is to lose face, and to lose face in a politically cut-throat company as this is like committing ritual suicide in front of the entire department.

This notebook is the one I use for doodling, sketching, writing out ideas, and so forth. As such it's a comfy blanket, and when the going gets tough, I take it with me wherever I go.

Today, I used it to record my score: eight. Career suicide has been put off another year. And so we go on.