Tuesday 30th July was a great day at the office. I started and finished the day with a couple of strategically important meetings and I felt like I was moving the business forward. In between I had some other meetings and talked to some very interesting people but these only made the day good.
But Tuesday was a great day. I didn’t solve world peace or fed the poor. I didn’t even do anything that you could say had made that much of a difference but I was able to do the thing that I most enjoy. I met and talked to people.
It happened because I was trying my guerrilla working. I was parked outside of the cabinet office, tapping away on my laptop and waiting for my first meeting when I remembered that I had lost my door entry card. It also allows me to use the fantastic new MFD printers so losing it was quite a blow. Anyway, who should walk by but the woman whose job it is to issue new and replacement cards. I’m sure she does other things as well but we got talking and she agreed to help me with a re-issue. We got talking, Xiaoling is her name by the way and we had a bit of a laugh and a joke while the card printer did its stuff. The funny thing was I was wearing the same suit and tie as when I had the original photo taken.
David the caretaker passed by and we said hi. I hadn’t seen for some time and he came over and we chatted for a while about how things were going. Well it would seem.
Armed with my new card (thanks to my NBF Xiaoling) and out of my first meeting I needed to print some papers and so headed off to the nearest printer. I can use anyone, anywhere in the county and I got chatting to the person already printing off some stuff. We talked about how good the new devices were, at least I said that and she agreed and we had a bit if a laugh and a joke. Suzanne was her name, the printer told me that and I remembered it for the next time I bumped into her.
So that was how my great day started, by meeting, engaging with and talking to people who play a role in running the organisation, just like me. Feeling a part of something is an important factor in anyone’s work and I hope that the few minutes we spent together brightened their day, even just a little bit. It did mine.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 