Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Stating the obvious?

At least, I hope I am.

Got a bit of a scare today when I stumbled on an internet article about some civil servants in the UK who were blogging about their work, and faced disciplinary action and even dismissal. Admittedly, they were higher up than I am and had apparently made comments about the political system and incompetencies of senior officials etc.

So, just in case I get into hot water, I just want to point out a few things:

I'm not particularly interested in making insightful political commentary given that the civil service codes of standards and behaviour explicitly states that we must be impartial whatever the party in Government is. There are far better political writers in the blogosphere than me.

I haven't made any direct reference to the exact nature of my work, for confidentiality reasons. Apart from the fact that it involves lots and lots of forms.

I'm also very conscious not to defame anyone. The characters I refer to in this blog are caricatures and composites of people and managers I have worked with throughout my working life, along with a little bit of the madness of the sort seen in The Office or Office Space. And Father Ted. I myself have adopted an evil persona.

The events I write about are sometimes based loosely on actual events and others are completely madey-uppy.

My primary reason for writing all this stuff is an outlet for creative writing which has been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember. And if I get a few comments, so much the better.

What I believe I am writing is a somewhat surreal and satirical account of life at the bottom of the pile of a large organisation.

Truth is, I'm lucky to have a secure job that I enjoy doing most of the time and decent people for colleagues and managers.

If any of them happen to stumble on this blog I'd hope they'd get a laugh out of it and leave me a comment.

That's my serious bit over. Now, back to the silly stuff.

6 comments:

Rosie said...

yikes. you know they're still going to search for themselves by name though, right?

Govstooge said...

Yup, and apparently one of the people in the UK referred to specific meetings/ dates/ locations etc so it was only a matter of time. My stuff is probably too silly to be contentious. Phew.

galwaywegian said...

I've been trying to guess where you work since I came across your blog a million years(ish) ago, without success, so I think you're fairly well covered.

Govstooge said...

I ain't tellin'! It is a very silly place. If I was to tell some of the stuff that really happens there I'd be found out immediately. Mind you, the mad ramblings really do go through my head through the working day, and the homicidal thoughts are bona fide 99% of the time also.

mazza said...

I have to agree with Galwegian....

Serial Complainer said...

I'm hugely disappointed that you've burst my bubble with a bit of honesty. I assumed that every word was real....