Our Territories

Channel Islands
England
Ireland
Isle of Man
Scotland
Wales

Our Categories

Home
Locations
Surnames
Articles
Library
Lookups

After my mother in law’s death in 1997 I was able to read family correspondence and realised it was me who was the monkey! I stayed in the job for a few more months but things came to a head when a new General Manager was appointed and I was asked to be his assistant. The new man was a fully qualified civil engineer but had no experience, for he had spent his career, to date, as a civil servant.

This new general manager however, was going to transform the company’s fortune! My role was to take him around the company’s headquarters and building sites and to assist him in every way I could to enable him to settle in as quickly as possible.

As we travelled around together it was clear he was not interested in the sites or the houses. He would suggest we go for a drink or, “What about lunch”, which I soon found interpreted as, ‘I pay the bill’! He had an interesting way of doing this, either he was awaiting transfer of his funds, or changing his bank or could I look after the cheque?

     Needless to say I discussed this with Mr. Wakeling for my funds were too shaky to foot all the additional costs. My father in law assured me that the company had put great stead upon this new Manager and it was my duty to see he had all he needed! Tempers became somewhat frayed when I asked for my expenses to be paid. I was reimbursed, but only after a long and difficult fight. As my boss did not want to pay for these outings I saw it was time for me to look elsewhere for better prospects.

My title may have been changed to, Assistant General Works Manager, but my One thousand pounds annual salary was only increased by the payment of a bonus - a week’s salary at Christmas (twenty pounds on a good year!). Peanuts for a Monkey!

Previous | Index | Next