Start of a slippery slope

Only a couple of weeks into life in my new office, and I have already created a snack drawer. This is not a particularly welcome development.  It was something I started in my previous job and is an idea I really didn’t want to bring with me – a sort-of refuge filled with sugary snacks and full-fat indulgences that I could dive into if I was feeling overly stressed or if I was having a bit of an energy dip. It probably makes me sound like an over-emotional, indulgent female teenager with an eating disorder, and maybe I’m not too far removed from that description, but it did provide great comfort during the dark days of Filling Station Management.  Argument with a customer? Help yourself to a Twix. Unable to integrate the orders on the outdated oft-failing ordering system? Plough into some Pringles. It started off as a small selection of treats filling about one-third of a small drawer, and ended up being a cupboard-sized stash of ready-to-hand naughtiness with a retail value close to fifty quid. The problem there – and I can admit this now I’ve left (although I believe I already admitted it while I was still employed there) – is that I checked in most of the deliveries, and it was really easy to mark a couple of things as damaged and to squirrel them away in my desk. The suppliers wouldn’t take individual items back, they’d only do returns if it was a full box that was faulty, and we weren’t allowed to sell ‘imperfect products’ at a reduced price. So if one tube of Pringles from a box of 36 happened to be dropped and dented, there really wasn’t any option but to bin them, or consume them myself. And you would be surprised how often things like that could happen. It’s a wonder I wasn’t called ‘Butterfingers’ Chesworth because I found it so hard to keep certain tasty items in my hands securely. And the more often it happened, and the longer it went unchecked, the more I found myself indulging. It’s quite shocking to think how much chocolate and confectionery I gorged my way through at no expense to myself.

Anyway- enough of this red wine induced confessional.  The point is – I have fallen into the same habit, by putting a Toblerone and a KitKat in the top drawer of my desk, and it feels nicely familiar, but I want it to stop now. So tomorrow I shall throw them away, and I shall not let myself replace them with anything other than fruit.

RC 23-3-21