The day after the conference...

And oh my God, are there some sore heads in the office. Mine isn't one of them, but I will admit to only getting an hour's sleep last night... I got home just after midnight, and was too wired to sleep, so that's the reason for the lack of sleep. (Well, one that I'm sticking with, anyway!)

I've also got a rotten headache to boot, as my eyes are really suffering. My own fault really, I'm too vain to wear my glasses instead of my contact lenses.

Having said that though, it's been quiet enjoyable, watching the rest of my colleagues suffering - including my line manager - who has been very subdued, due to the size of his hangover. (And yes, I am malevolent enough to take great glee in that fact!)

But he was still bright enough to have a quick pop at me, when I said that I'd gotten very little sleep. I knew he wasn't with it enough to fight back when I threatened to flick water over him, in an attempt to stop him falling asleep at his desk!

I guess that I should talk a bit about the conference... It was quite good, but I will admit, I wasn't really able to enjoy the morning, as I was really wound up about the presentation that I was going to do in the afternoon.

Lunch was very tasty - (the little bit that I managed to eat!), and the afternoon session was quite good fun. Those of us that were at the conference changed into t-shirts, with a motto that said:

A contact centre agent is for life - not just for Christmas

on the front, and our first initial and surname on the back, with 05 (a reference to it being the 2005 conference) underneath. They looked really good, and we've all agreed to wear them the first Friday of the month, in order to raise money for the company's selected charity.

The presentation itself went quite well, and I will admit, my colleagues on the stand were a real help, giving me visual signals of encouragement (such as thumbs up) when I got the visual cue from the video that was part of the presentation.

But, I guess the real crux of the matter was the fact that I didn't chicken out,which I get the feeling that my line manager was worried I'd do. Simply because I was really scared in the morning, and could just about manage to do a final run through.

Afterwards, he admitted that he'd been worried that I would freak out and refuse to do the presentation due to my nerves, and that he had been quite willing to step in and help me if I'd felt too overwhelmed.

However, what he didn't realise was that I was determined to overcome my nerves, and once I'd got the first bit over and done with, I was relatively happy. Ok - I'll re-phrase that. Happier than I was in the morning!

The real fun was in the evening. We ended up going to Warwick Castle, and had to stand in the cold, listening to some idiot in armour drivelling on about the history of the castle. Normally I'm fairly interested, but when I'm freezing cold and hungry to boot, there's not much point in trying to get my interest.

The food wasn't really anything to write home about - but the entertainment was good in places, and missed the target in others. But for me, the best part was getting to know my colleagues better, and share a few jokes with like minded people... Including having a quick dig at my line manager!

As I've said in previous posts, I was determined to stop him calling me by his chosen nickname for me... So, last night, I jokingly asked him not to call me "Karen" all the time, as I always wondered what I'd done wrong.

His response was to complain that I was always changing my mind, ("typical bloody female") and he didn't know what the hell he could call me! I started laughing, and suggested "Kaz." He agreed, and said that this would be the last change, otherwise he'd start calling me something truly unrepeatable (in polite company, anyway!)

Ah well, time to call it quits - it's time for me to log off and bog off.

Back later (if my headache has cleared)...

Karen.

Don't let the b'stards get you down.