Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006 - 10:23 a.m.

Other Human Beings are a great source of wonder and confusion to me.

Once a month at my office we have a coffee morning, in a feeble and excruciatingly painful attempt to make different departments interact with one another. It nearly kills me to get there on time. But yesterday I did, rocking in with my best fake smile at barely a minute past nine.

First words spoken to me: �Geez, you look knackered.� Excellent start.

I grabbed a coffee and nabbed the CEO�s PA, a hilarious woman old enough to be my mother, and if truth be told, I have from time to time made use of her surrogacy services (everyone needs a bit of advice from a proper grown up now and then). Her youngest daughter worked with us for three months or so this year, also a very amusing woman, and we relentlessly took the piss out of each other the whole time.

I asked after her daughter, and she replied We were wondering why you were so mean to her?

Me: Oh, really? I thought she rolled with the punches, and she sure as heck gave as good as she got
CEO�s PA: We�ve analysed at length why you�re so caustic.

Caustic. Caustic. Harsh.

Definitely true a year ago. But things were different then. And I thought I�d reigned-in that tendency somewhat, now the storm has passed.

CEO�s PA: But we�d love to have you come stay for the weekend very soon.

Yup, I don�t get the OHBs at all.

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