The flip side of making a play at work
Marks & Spencer now says you can go into whichever changing room you “feel comfortable” in. Most women feel comfortable in a changing room where it can be guaranteed that there aren’t any men. So how will that be achieved under this new rule?
And they wonder why people prefer shopping online.
The RMT union has called a 27-day walkout by South Western Railway for most of December. It will be the longest train strike in British history and ruin Christmas travel plans for thousands of people. One crumb of comfort for those of us who have the misfortune to use SWR is that during their regular bouts of industrial action they operate a skeleton timetable.while their regular service is a bad joke their strike timetable (though there are far fewer trains) invariably runs to the minute.why this should be so is a complete mystery.
Emma
Watson’s description of herself as “self-partnered” is plain silly. Why not call a spade a spade and say you’re single? There’s nothing wrong with that. Self-partnered sounds curiously like selfcentred to me.
IFEEL sorry for Steve Easterbrook, the Watford-born CEO of Mcdonald’s who in a corporate Mcflurry has been fired for having a relationship with an employee which, though consensual, had “violated company policy” and shown “poor judgment”. Well, the truth is I only feel a bit sorry for him, not massively sorry, as it’s been estimated that he’ll be leaving with a pay-off of $37million. More than your average burger flipper.
But the people I really feel sorry for are those who will now think twice before they go on a date with a colleague in case it contravenes a clause in their contract. It’s the way the world is going ever since we began to hear how Harvey Weinstein met prospective employees in his towelling bathrobe. These days men are terrified that they’ll be outed for “inappropriate behaviour” if they as much as compliment a woman on her new hair, let alone ask her on a date.
The working day is long. If you can’t cast around for mates during nine to five, when can you? And where would office gossip be without the titillating presence of Dave and Dora trying to look nonchalant as they avoid sitting too close in the morning meeting, trying not to catch each other’s eye as they put coats on and beetle off for “lunch”. It’s not just would-be lovers who suffer if there’s a ban on consensual relationships, it’s their colleagues who then have nothing to think about apart from, er, work.
The odd thing is that companies are always desperate to encourage passion in their workforce. No application for a job as a teenage intern is complete without some meaningless blah about how “passionate” he or she is about the prospect of performing unpaid labour. On the Mcdonald’s website they insist they’re “proud to employ great people who are passionate about their jobs”. Not the kissy-kissy sort of passion though.
Talking of which, I worked – many years ago – as a lowly usherette at London’s Shaw Theatre during a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. It starred Nicky Henson as Petruchio, setting out to tame his wayward new bride, Katherina, played by Susan Hampshire. It’s well known that they began a steaming affair which unfortunately ended Nicky Henson’s marriage to Una Stubbs. But I was only a star-struck onlooker and found the whole delirious imbroglio riveting especially as it wasn’t thren public knowledge. The lovers, young and glamorous, were like a nuclear reactor gone critical. Everyone was agog to know what would happen next... even though theatre people hate to gossip (hmm). And like any couple who can’t keep their hands off each other they were sweetly hopeless at concealing the fact.
I don’t know if their affair violated company policy (probably not in those more innocent times) but it didn’t half make for a high voltage production. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Suddenly every other politician and political pundit is saying “we are where we are”. Have you noticed? It’s meant to demonstrate insightfulness and a sophisticated grasp of realpolitik. It’s also getting on my wick.
Day I was mugged by a baby shop stroller
The news that Mothercare has joined the growing list of high street casualties prompted a slew of soupy memories from those who remember shopping for buggies and bottle sterilisers in their third trimester, or buying baby’s first shoes. Aww. But while I’m sorry to hear that another bricks-and-mortar shop has crumbled, my memories of Mothercare are somewhat tarnished by the fact that I had my purse nicked in one of their branches.yes, unlikely as it sounds, I was mugged in Mothercare.
It happened as if in slow motion. Unable to believe what I was seeing I watched a young woman reach into my bag, lift out my wallet (yes, stupidly my bag was undone) and then scarper. Too middle class and polite to yell “stop thief” in case it caused someone’s waters to break
I stood there, mouth open. Mind you if I was contemplating a career as a pickpocket, a baby accessory shop is an excellent target.where else would you find so many women (and men) dazed, distracted and who can’t remember their own names let alone the importance of looking after their belongings?