Hello … um ... you

I recently commenced a new appointment in a new office in a new state, which means I get to play one of the games I least like playing: remembering the names of everyone you meet.

While the office team itself isn’t that large, we often talk about officers and employees across the whole division and also at THQ, some of whom I know but many are new to me. This can lead to interesting discussions at times (some details below are omitted).

“Mal, do you know Helen?”

“Helen who?”

“Or, um, you know. The Helen in charge of that unit.”

“Which unit?”

“The _ _ _ unit. Oh, yes, it’s Helen _ _ _.”

“Isn’t she the corps officer at _ _ _ Corps?”

“Oh, yes. The other Helen.”

“So … the Helen that isn’t Helen _ _ _.”

“She’s tallish, dark hair, maybe 40, wears glasses.”

“If I don’t know her, none of that information helps me.”

“She used to work with Allen _ _ _ and Ellen _ _ _ in the _ _ _ department.”

“Are you serious? Helen, Ellen and Allen worked together.”

“Yes, in the _ _ _ department.”

“No, I don’t know any of them.”

“Wait, no! It’s not Helen I’m thinking of, it’s Jennifer. I’m sorry. And she used to work in the _ _ _ department with Kenneth _ _ _ and Gwen _ _ _.”

“So, it was Jen, Ken and Gwen. You really are having me on now, aren’t you? In my last appointment I worked with Ali and Sally and occasionally got called Mally, that was enough for me.”

“Were you close? Did you get really pally with them?”

I walked away.

–      Major Mal Davies is Assistant Divisional Commander for the Victoria Division.