Well, the best two weeks of my being here in Scotland have flown by. I can hardly believe it.

You guys have no idea how much I wish my parent’s would have stayed in Portugal for another week (the bathroom still isn’t finished & won’t be until Wednesday). But alas, they come home today. I’m not exactly feeling it at all right now. You could almost say I’m gutted actually. Where the hell did the time go? My sense of freedom here is about to to wrenched away from me & it sucks.

But but but! 26 days till I’m back home – I love how my ticker is counting in days as oppose to weeks. It’s so much more exciting.

Work is good, actually. I’m getting along with everyone pretty great. Well, minus Personnel – ha! Now here’s a conversation(?) for you!

So on my second day at work – Tuesday, Sept 30th, I gave my boss my ID (Passport)/bank details/P60 etc, etc.

Now, they don’t know I’m going on any holidays soon but we do right? So I’m thinking to myself, how long does it take to make a photocopy of these 3 things?

The days went by & eventually I got sick & tired of asking to no avail. So Monday morning I went walked straight into Personnel & met this Graham….

“I have your ID?” He says to me.

“Yes, you’ve had it for 10 days already & I need it back. Now.”

“Well it was the only way I could get you here” he says.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been asking my boss for my ID back each & every day, not to mention trying to catch yourself here but..well, I kept missing you”.

“I want to be able to pay you, Aria, but I can’t do that unless I have your information”.

He then starts on about my “Starter Pack” that I’d received the day before & the fact that I have to bring it to him with some form filled in.

“I can’t do that today, sorry. I’m a) an hour away from here & b) I was told to take the thing home because it was “just a bunch of leaflets & crap”. Maybe if someone had told me I needed to fill out everything you already have, again, on a form then…maybe I would have no?”

“Open it & read it, Aria for fucks sake.”

This was the point he told me I’d be paid next Friday. Flabbergasted, I went into my Department & voiced my…disbelief?

My boss went next door to speak to him & I swear to god, she turned on me like that.

“Who did you give your ID to? Me? On Tuesday? Then it hasn’t “been 10 days” & it should have been obvious Aria! How can we pay you when we don’t have your bank details?!”

“Well evidently, Louise, it wasn’t. And yes, if you remember correctly, I handed you that envelope on my second day here & I’ve been asking for it back every day since. And, here’s a bank statement right here with my account number & branch on it! – It’s all here! - I tell you what, Graham; You do your job & I’ll do mine!”

But alas, I’m then handed a new form, which I fill in with everything he already has in his hand but evidently he needs me to write it out for him because he can’t just look for himself & I leave, wondering what the fuck I’m going to do for money since I believed & had been bloody told twice already that I would be paid that Friday.

Now, because I actually have a job to do, I start getting myself organized. One of the girls came up to me & says

“Oh my god, I heard you arguing with him! What’s happened?”

Apparently we were shouting at one another, but honestly, the red mist descended over me so I’m not sure – but fuck, he raised his voice over mine & kept interrupting me, not to mention, he opened Pandora’s Box by swearing at me first. So hell, we probably were & it was about to get a whole lot worse.

“Apparently I’m a fucking mind reader Kathleen. How dare he fucking speak to me like that”.

At which point he came around the corner.

“You forgot your date of birth & I heard that, Aria!”

“Oh so there’s nothing wrong with your hearing then ahe?”

“You need to work on your fucking attitude”

“Yes Mother! – And there we go again, Graham, a fine example for all the staff to see just exactly how you’ve been speaking to me! And you know what, you’re the one with my goddamn passport – work it the fuck out!”

It was only then I thought to myself ; How far can I push this?! Can he fire me?!

He might have enough bottle to think he can get away with speaking to people like that – I bet he was surprised when it turned out I wasn’t in fact Polish & could speak even better English that him – but evidently, he doesn’t have the balls to go firing someone from another department he has no right even being in.

Hot damn did I give back every little bit & more. And you know, ever since, everyone has treated me real nice – obviously they know they don’t want to fuck with me.

Even if my own boss won’t stand by her staff, her assistants will & they were nothing but supportive of me. Infact one woman, Wilma – she’s a total angel – told me how proud she was that I had talked back to Graham, who very much needs a good kicking.

Some personnel skills ahe folks! – Me, not him.