Have you ever had to work with someone who is really difficult? Said person seemed to find fault with everything I said today and it is driving me insane. She also seemed to take exception to the private meeting myself and two colleagues had this morning, convinced all we were doing was talking about her instead of actual work-related matters. This whole situation is really starting to get me down and I’m at a loss at to what I can do about it. There are only three of us in the room and S has decided I’m the bad one apparently, mainly because I see through her crap and don’t put up with it. At the end of the day, she is lazy and seems incapable of multi-tasking on any level.

All morning, I had to put up with her whispered mutterings about how bitchy people were in the place and how there was no need for people to be talking about stuff behind other people’s back. Firstly, she is constantly talking about other people and bringing them down - particularly me! Secondly, our office is by no means perfect but it is one of the most laid back places I’ve ever worked and if you do the work, you get the respect.

Ever since S started, I’ve had constant complaints from people about how rude she is and how she never goes through the proper channels. She is totally unreliable and leaves us in the lurch at our busiest times, preferring to arrange her day around her best friend’s working schedule. Her best friend doesn’t work for us, so you can see how annoying this might be to the rest of us. We are all on flexi-time which means we aren’t stuck in a 9-5 pattern, however flexi is only flexible to a certain extent as each work dept has its own deadlines to meet which may mean coming in earlier than most or staying later than others. At the end of the day, flexi is a privilege provided it meets the aims of the office as a whole.

I feel like I become a different person around S, someone who is constantly disapproving or nagging, and I really don’t like that person, however I will be damned if I let her walk all over me.

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I’ve been a bad TT’er the past few weeks due to a lack of time, but today is St Andrews Day and I thought I’d continue to add a Scottish flavour to TT.

1) St Andrews Day is celebrated by Scots all over the world on 30 November.

2) St Andrew was a fisherman in Galilee before becoming one of the original disciples to follow Jesus. He was the brother of Peter Simon.

3) St Andrew was crucified in Greece for his beliefs, possibly on an x-shaped cross, which would become symbolised on the Scottish flag.

3) The Scottish king, Angus McFergus, was visited by St Andrew in a dream the night before he was due to meet an English king in battle. The day of the battle, a white cross appeared in sky and the Scottish flag, the saltire, was born.

4) There are many legends about how the relics of St. Andrew were said to arrive in Scotland. Some say they were brought by St Regulus who was shipwrecked on the Fife coast, at the spot which would become the site of the town of St. Andrews.

5) St Andrews became the religious capital of Scotland and an important place for Christian pilgrimage, however the chapel, founded in 1160, took 158 years to build.

6) St Andrew was recognised officially as the patron saint of Scotland at the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The declaration signed by many Scottish noblemen, including Robert the Bruce, asserted Scotland’s independence from England.

7) The relics of St Andrew disappeared during the Reformation when Scotland broke away from the Roman Catholic church, however a fragment of a bone remains in St Marys Cathedral, Edinburgh.

St Andrew is also the patron saint of Romania, Greece and Russia.

9) There are numerous St Andrews Societies all over the world and the day is celebrated with traditional food, music, dancing and, of course, good whiskey.

10) Unfortunately, the holiday seems to be marked more by Scots abroad than in Scotland itself but there have been numerous attempts over the years to encourage Scots to celebrate the holiday in the same manner as the Irish do on St Patricks Day.

11) The first state sponsored celebration was held in Edinburgh last year with pipe bands, a mini-Tattoo on the castle esplanade, and international acts from Spain and India. It was free to everyone and actually didn’t rain! What more could you ask for?

12) The latest campaign is to make the day a national holiday as Scots get less days off than any other country in Europe! Boo! Hiss!

13) Happy St Andrews Day!

God, I’m so bad! Even though I said I was done with Christmas, I keep buying little stocking fillers for the kids. Yesterday, I bought them chocolate reindeers from Thorntons because I thought they were cute! I was never a huge fan of Thorntons but for some reason I can’t get enough of their stuff this year. I also ordered one of their seasonal bouquets for my Mum to be sent on behalf of the kids. She should get it 22 December. The picture actually doesn’t do it justice on the website but they are really warm and festive looking.

I decided I’m not working overtime this weekend because I really need the time to get organised with cards and gifts that have to be posted abroad. I’m going to be posting my Christmas Grotto Gift to Lynn on Saturday and I have a few cards to post out too. I just don’t have time during the week and everything is starting to get so busy.

December is going to be a really busy month for me at work so the more I can do on Saturday the better.

Yay! I decided it was time for a touch of Christmas here since everyone else is decorating their sites for the holidays. It took me ages to find this layout because I’m quite fussy and didn’t really like any of the other WP seasonal layouts. However, I love this layout as it is really well put together and there is nothing like getting someone else to do all the hard work for you!

I’m still fighting this damn cold and am trying out Vicks First Defence which promises to eliminate cold germs before they have a chance to multiply. According to the packet, you can expect to feel a slight stinging sensation after application which eventually disappears. Slight??? That has to be the understatement of the century, you can actually feel the stuff burning at the back of your nasal passages and all the way down your throat! But, hey, if it nukes the cold - I’m willing to put up with it. I feel not too bad considering, so I guess it could be worse.

In the past 24 hours, three of my sites have been hacked and files overwritten. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and my sites are fully restored but I’m so pissed! My host was no help at all and more or less told me it was either an insecure PHP script or my password had been compromised. I have changed all passwords and as far as I can see, all my scripts are up-to-date. I’ve no idea which one caused the problem though but noticed the changes all took place on files or folders that have their permissions set at 777 or 666. I’ve changed every single one of them. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see now. I think I have a cold coming on so I’m not really in the mood to be messing around with my sites but I can’t leave them unfixed.

I just finished wrapping a load of Christmas presents and my back is killing me from bending over all the time, there is just no way you can wrap presents comfortably. I’m almost ready to post my Christmas Swap to Lynn in Canada - just have to track down one more thing and then I’m done.

I’ve been spending money like there is no tomorrow between Christmas and dentists but at least the next pay is all mine! I’m still doing overtime which is really starting to wear me down but we all just want the job finished. The person I mentioned in my previous post finally handed in her notice but I’m not sure what is really happening beyond that because most of the bosses have been elsewhere this week. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. I still feel it is the right move for me because I need the change badly and need away from a certain person.

Speaking of moves, I was hunting on the internet last night looking at flats (apartments) but it quickly dawned on me that there is no way in hell I can afford to buy anything on my salary because the prices are ridiculously high in my area. I also looked at places to let and nearly wept at the cost - most of them would wipe me out every month before you even include bills for utilities, etc. It’s really frustrating being a single person in this country because everything is so geared towards families and if I went out a got pregnant on purpose the govt would bend over backwards to give me a house. People like me, who work damn hard, get penalised every time.