They've booked the Christmas do for a Saturday. A fucking Saturday. Fuck that.

>>12603

Good luck. Unless the restaurant's very, very, very, good at service you'll be waiting an eternity for everything, the chaos will be palpable. Typically we call the Saturday before the 25th Black Saturday as it's so fucking grim. The dates are shaping up this year to have two, the 15th and the 22nd of December. I pray for you that yours is earlier than that.

I don't particularly understand why people even bother eating out in December. It's never, ever good.

>>12604
It is one of those dates. I've already responded to say I'm not going. I don't mind giving up a weekday evening to get pissed with work colleagues, especially when it means closing the office early, but it's not something I'd give up a decent chunk of my weekend for. I've been to the venue before and it's a poky old hotel; if they couldn't get anywhere decent because they've left booking too late then they should have just organised a piss-up in February.

>>12605

Mid September is considered late for Christmas time? Holy shit. I don't know what I'm doing for dinner tonight and I have guests arriving in 30 minutes.

>>12606

When you're trying to book something like an office do for 50+ people, anywhere past June is getting late. Christmas is the busiest time of the year and it's hard to find places that cater for big parties.

My work hasn't booked it yet either, because nobody trusts last year's organiser, but nobody can be arsed to do it themselves either. Looks like my only half joking backup plan of going to KFC is going to become a reality.

>>12606

Most restaurants are fully booked for December by the start of September. Nicer places or those more routinely suited to large parties will be full often before summer. A great many companies will book their table an entire year in advance, it's very common for people to ask if they can book again for next Christmas while they're still sat there waiting for their dessert to arrive.

EVERYONE IS COUGHING AND SNEEZING, SPREADING THEIR GERMS.

>>12615
I've had the good sense to cancel everything this week, as I'm loaded with flu. Fucking honestly man, freshers are riddled. Missus started college and had a cold on the first day.

They're having a charity bake sale at work this week. However, hardly anyone has baked anything and they've just brought in something they've got from the shops instead. They've also set the prices ridiculously high so barely anything is selling, either.

I sit next to a woman in her late fifties and she doesn't maximise windows; if something doesn't open full screen automatically then she'll keep it as it is. I'll glance over and see her doing something like typing in Word with it only taking up about half the screen.

We've also got dual monitors and she's forever clicking in the wrong place to drag something from one screen to the next no matter how many times she's shown how to do it.

>>12624
Old people being bad with computers is a stereotype that is somehow older than computers themselves.

>>12625
Of course old people shouldn't be bad with computers. Any woman in her fifties with a career has had up to thirty years of practice using them in the workplace.

I went out for a walk with a couple of people I supposedly work with and one of them gave me a cig (I don't smoke IRL). When we got back I threw the cig in the bin without fully stubbing it out properly and it caught fire. I kept soaking towels in the sink and throwing them on the fire but it wouldn't go out. I had to interview a couple of people for jobs in the afternoon and I had to tell each of them "don't mind the bins" and play it off like having a bin on fire in your place of work was one of the most natural things in the world.

>>12627

Did you miss the dream thread?

>>12627

>>12627
Sounds like that IT Crowd episode with the soldering iron.

>>12629
SNEAKY SNEAKY

>>12631
You absolute bastard.

>>12600 here again.

She was doing FaceTime with her baby in the middle of the office. Fuck sake.

>>12633Just be glad she doesn't bring the cretin in.

They have sent an email saying that the hotel rooms for the christmas party must now be shared - you can pick your partner but if you don't then one will be picked for you.

If ever there was a sign that things are going downhill, this is it.

>>12635
Sounds like they don't want anyone to go.

>>12635
>hotel rooms for the christmas party
Well look who's a posho.

>>12635

Fucking hell lad. Make sure you pick a fine filly, you're getting a work affair this year whether you like it or not. Must be some kind of teambuilding thing.

There is a lad who somehow thinks it's acceptable to utilise the frankly underpowered and shitty microwave in the staffroom for 10 minutes every lunchtime to bake a potato from scratch. Everyone else brings in leftovers that take, at best, 2 minutes of microwave time. All of our lunch breaks are only 30 minutes, so if anyone gets there after him they have to scarf down their food and get a burnt tongue simply because of his selfishness.

People have made reproachful comments, albeit jokingly because that's the most we can do as Brits to indicate this his behaviour is socially unacceptable, yet every day he still does it. Every day, 10 minutes to bake his sodding potato. Fuck you, Adam. You're shit at your job and everyone knows it.

>>12640

I know it's the principle of the thing and you don't want Adam to win, but you can get another microwave for fifty quid. Maybe you could set up a donation box next to the existing microwave, draw a picture of a spud on it if you don't feel it's passive aggressive enough.

>>12640
BIN HIS POTATO. THAT'LL LEARN HIM.

It's faster to microwave a baked potato if you put in on a big plate with a small mixing bowl over it because then it gets nuked and steamed at the same time.

I know people microwave potatoes to start them off, but I don't even know why you'd want to do it fully in a microwave. Wouldn't the skin be awful?

>>12644

It's fast. The skin isn't crispy or crunchy or whatever but I don't find anything awful about it. I can barely remember what non-nuked jacket potatoes are like though. It's been years.

>>12643

You can do a bunch of baby/anya/salad potatoes under a mixing bowl or splatter shield and make cheat tater hash with tinned mince or soy mince. The potatoes are nicer than the cubed and boiled ones I think.

>>12645

It's about the same as traditionally cooked new potato skin.

>>12645

For me almost the best bit of a jacket spud is the crispy skin, I can't fathom not covering it in oil and roasting it for at least ten minutes after you've nuked it. I appreciate if you want a potato in ten minutes you're limited to the microwave, so fair enough.

>>12648
Oil on a jacket potato? I'm not sure I can agree with this.

I tried air fryer chips, the way they suggested you make them, which is pre-microwave them, add a little oil, then put them in the air-fryer, and they just tasted like crappy reheated potatoes. You know that reheating-a-meal-after-it's-fully-gone-cold taste? It's not completely horrific but very distinctive.

>>12649
Not him, but yes if you're baking it properly, not nuking.
Rub on oil & salt, bake. Perhaps preheat in microwave to give you a head start (my oven throws microwaves into the fan oven for such things, works really well - nice full-skin baked potato in 15 mins.)

>>12641
>you can get another microwave for fifty quid

I'm not sure why you're informing me of this, do I look like my manager?

>>12652

That's why you're still in the cubicles, Colin. No initiative.

>>12651
You haven't sold me yet on this oily potato. Tell me what fillings you have inside of it. If it doesn't involve cottage cheese or chives then I'm even more sceptical.

>>12654

What's to be sceptical about? You want a tasty crispy skin, you add oil. Basic cooking facts innit.

The filling is going to be whatever you want in your baked spud.

>>12655
I have perfectly crispy potatoes without any oil, won't it just make them greasy?

>>12656

It's only on the outside of the potato, I'm not sure why you'd think you'd be able to make an entire spud greasy with a thin coating of oil.

Anyway, it's the best way to do them, I suggest trying it, I'll send you the 30p for a potato if you don't like it.

https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/the-great-potato-contest

The macerator in the gent's toilets downstairs is fucked so we've commandeered the ladies' toilets upstairs.

They are ridiculously better than ours. They have natural light. The paint still looks white. There's no questionable brown stains on the wall or around the toilet roll holder. They have fresh air circulating.

I don't think I can go back to our regular toilets after this. Not after I've tasted nirvana.

>>12658

You're not supposed to be tasting anything in there, you pervert.

>>12659
Why do you think it's called menstruate? Talk about not seeing the wood for the trees.

I'd received an email today which was signed off reminding me that great people don't see problems, they see solutions.

In this particular instance I'd had to tell my colleague that I couldn't do any work with what they've provided me because it was a steaming pile of shite, with the only conceivable solution being for them to do their job properly.

>>12661

"reminding me that great people don't see problems, they see solutions."

Which great person if any has ever said that? You know who did have a solution though? Hitler.

>>12662
It's one of those bullshit sayings used by knobhead managerial types because they think they're sharing profound wisdom when they tell it to people, like "I'd rather be a leader than a swallower" or "assume makes an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me'".

>>12663

There's no "i" in "team" but there's a "u" in "cunt".

>>12663

That fucking picture of the 'leader' and the workers dragging the workload, I've seen that thing posted by so many fucking ineffective managers in my time.