Money came in by itself - the past week at work

Monday

A heap of work on my desk when I got to the agency this morning. It was a busy start to the week, with one deadline following another. As always in these circumstances I felt tense.

Pleasant mild day, and when I was down near Millbank (client visit) I went for a two mile walk along the Thames, the sunlight glinting on the water.

Eleanor (new account executive) was moody and irrational. Yvette (head of the agency) latched onto this and began needling her, as if trying to provoke her to say what was wrong. I was caught in the middle of this, having to listen to each of them moaning about the other ("females!" sympathised Neil, graphic designer).

Tuesday

When the post was brought to my desk this morning it included a Christmas card from Adrian (an old friend) posted on 18th March, and with a note scribbled on the back explaining how he forgot to post it earlier.

Eleanor was in a better mood today. She gave me a bar of chocolate (she knows I am "researching" this area) that incorporated plain, white and milk chocolate. She was still surly to Yvette however, and complained about the amount of work being piled on her.

Close to the end of the month, and Yvette totaled up the billings, becoming quite excited at the prospect of hitting the target for March. She promised us all champagne if we did so, and urged us to look for work we can bring forward and invoice early. I can never see the point of doing this, as it only makes next month's target harder to reach.

Andrea (Account Manager) made an error with an ad for our car client (we only have a small part of the account) and was in deep disgrace.

"I shall begin to deduct the cost of failures from your salary" Yvette told her severely.

"And if we have unexpected successes will the money be added to our salary?" I asked (this was not a wise thing to have said, and I got one of her looks).

Very late when I got home. As I was getting changed I briefly laid down on the bed and felt so comfortable it was difficult to get up again. I set myself a deadline to find another job.

Wednesday

New trainee copywriter Jonathan arrived today. I hadn't realised we were recruiting, so his presence in the offices was a complete surprise ("Can I help you?" I asked when I saw him wandering about). Tall, a bit plump, old-fashioned glasses, aged mid-twenties, foppish hair, public-school background.

Quite a lot of the day I worked on the Spanish campaign for our Belgian oil client. By rearranging the media schedule I managed to increase the profit by ten per cent. This put me in such a good mood that I effectively stopped work for the rest of the day (I always have a lazy tendency to coast whenever I feel I am ahead).

I called an old university friend to wish him happy birthday. He is one of my marginal friends, not someone I know well but we have always somehow kept in touch. We talked about the old days and he asked after various people and I happened to mention I was meeting some other university friends (my real friends) for dinner tonight, and then was appalled when he told me: "Right, I'll come" (as it was his birthday I didn't feel I could put him off).

Early evening I went by train to a small town in Surrey. I met my three friends in the picturesque White Hart pub and we had a round of drinks (which I paid for). I revealed my marginal friend would be joining us and there were expressions of mild disgust (he had not been popular - I have always tended to collect outcasts).

No sign of my interloping friend - I left a message on his mobile telling him where we were going, although the others just wanted to leave him to it ("if he can't get here on time we shouldn't bother about him").

We went to a restaurant in an old red brick hotel (Georgian facade facing onto the High Street). Two of our party were on very tight budgets and ordered the cheapest items on the menu. Our other friend, who has done very well in life, ordered the most expensive things.

Sancerre to drink.

"This is the poshest meal I've had ever" said Richard.

Half-way through the main course my marginal friend arrived, no apology for being late. Immediately there was tension between him and the others (I had forgotten why he had been unpopular - he has a tendency of disagreeing with whoever is speaking). Because it was his birthday champagne was ordered which we paid for - this was a bit unfair on the two who were keeping to a budget.

Everyone at the meal said they intended to vote Conservative.

After the dinner my three real friends dispersed. I also wanted to get away, but my marginal friend suggested walking off the meal, so we meandered round the cobbled streets as it grew later and later. Sinking realisation that although he was probably my least valued friend I was his most valued friend.

Thursday

Despite very little sleep I was only five minutes late getting to my desk this morning. "Make some soot" I said to Andrea (soot is our code for extremely strong percolated coffee). Yvette heard this from her office and protested strongly, but Andrea made the soot anyway.

A slow day - mainly because my reactions were literally slow and I had difficulty functioning. Lots of calls to European publications, all of which began with my saying "Do you speak English?" Money came in by itself, which was just as well as I couldn't have made any effort to go out and get it.

Neil brought in his portfolio to show me. The work was completely unexpected, including lots of crayon drawings of young women entwined with foliage. Half-way through Yvette broke this up, telling Neil to train the new copywriter.

Eleanor behaving oddly again. I have come to the conclusion that she doesn't really want to be an account executive and would like to go back to her admin job. She certainly spends a lot of time sitting at her old desk.

In the afternoon a potential client came in and we (Yvette, account executive Julie and myself) gave them a small presentation in Yvette's office. However Yvette managed to get into an argument with them about how advertising works, and they began to look miffed. Unlikely we will see them again.

I left work at 5 and had to be careful on the train that I did not fall asleep and end up at the end of the line.

Friday

A quiet day. I spent most of the morning drinking coffee and reading voucher copies of out-of-date local newspapers (Redhill, south Wales, Coventry). Showers of rain, but the day was wonderfully mild.

A meeting with Yvette, and I voiced concerns about Eleanor's sullen behaviour. Yvette told me that our breakfast cereal client had refused to have Eleanor handling their work. Mystery solved.

On the train I read the Times Literary Supplement and then The Waves by Virginia Woolf (beautiful prose, but you have to read it slowly). When I got home I had dinner and fell asleep in an armchair. I woke in time for Newsnight and then Newsnight Review (irritating new format where their chairs are too far apart, so that even though we have a wide-screen television you can't see the discussion all at one glance, only disjointed bits).