He will make a complete hash of the presentation - the past week at work

Tuesday

First day back at work. I was tired all day. I suppose this is because I have been so lazy over the holiday.

Arriving at the office, lots of people seemed to be missing today.

I went up to the Operations department (first floor west) and only Kate was there (blonde, shortish, flirtatious in a married woman sort of way).

Without any preamble she asked me how old I was: "We were wondering because it's hard to tell. You look as if you could be in your late twenties. But it's hard to tell."

I ignored her question and talked about the promotional plan I had done for the Operations team. Jamie came in and we discussed the plan in detail (Jamie is mid-thirties, short spiky gelled hair, cynical about everything, slightly humourless, he is assistant to Operations head Ryan M). It was obvious that neither Kate nor Jamie would make a decision unless Ryan M was there.

A lot of the day I spent getting the Marketing Plan (which I am responsible for) into a presentable state. Margaret (in the Information Services team) laid out the text. Leo (the junior in my department) worked on graphs and charts.

A long talk in the afternoon with Felix S who heads the Statistics & Evaluation team (mid forties, very formal, wears glasses that enlarge his eyes so that he looks as if he is permanently surprised). We discussed how his Market Research Plan will link in with my Marketing Plan. He told me gossip that was circulating about how Finance Director Bonar B intended to oppose our boss Communications Director Tom Daw at the Executive Board Weekend.

Wednesday

A fairly relaxed kind of day. First thing I gave Leo a lot of filing to do, and he looked reproachfully at me from under his unkempt yellow hair, as if he was a golden labrador. As soon as I sat down at my desk I felt hungry and had to walk to the little kiosk at the centre of the business park where I bought cheese rolls, ice cream, a bar of chocolate and a small packet of biscuits.

In the afternoon freelance film-maker John Engel arrived at reception and asked for me. I was completely bemused by this until I worked out that Tom D had told him to attend an interview for a job with the NGO (in my team!). This was complete news to me, and I had to bluster my way through the interview without knowing what I was supposed to be interviewing him for.

Thursday

Leo morose and unco-operative this morning. I found out that he had done hardly any of the filing I had given him. He is the son of one of the other department heads, so it is difficult to tell him his work is inadequate (in any case, he is only working at the NGO to save money for his gap year).

Finally Tom D (my boss) is back. He immediately called a meeting with Felix S and myself to discuss the future of the Information Services team. At last we got to see the accounts for the team (which is set up as an NGO within the bigger NGO). The figures were not encouraging - the Information Services team was running at £60k pa over income (which comes from various grants). Tom D was so worried about this that he called in CEO Alec Pressberg (dour, late fifties, thinning grey hair). Alec Pressberg told Tom D to make two people redundant.

Tom D gave hardly any thought to the redundancy process and told us who he had selected (the "consultation" and all the other paperwork would be made to fit later).

Although I was not involved in this decision it made me feel guilty the rest of the day.

I am also becoming disillusioned about Tom D's irresponsible attitude to budgets - he spends money without any thought as to where it will come from.

At the end of the day I saw my Marketing Plan prepared for Tom D to present at the Executive Board Weekend, and I was disappointed at the unsuitable way the hard copies had been bound.

Friday

Most of the morning spent in a meeting with Tom D explaining the Marketing Plan to him point by point so that he can present it at the Executive Board Weekend. Felix S was also present explaining the Statistics & Evaluation Plan. I don't think Tom really understood what I was saying to him, and probably he will make a complete hash of the presentation.

In the afternoon a meeting with Jamie and Kate from the Operations team. They wanted me to meet three of their "stakeholders". It was hard work explaining to them the basics of image building.

Towards the end of the afternoon HR manager Yasmin S came to sit in the chair opposite me. She was furious at Tom D's behaviour over the redundancies, which is causing a lot of problems for her (he had just telephoned the two people, telling them over the 'phone their jobs were at risk). We talked for about an hour about the NGO and all the aspects we were not happy about.