‘Beat that slimy git Jono and then buy a new suit day’ begins....

D-day, or ‘beat that slimy git Jono and then buy a new suit day’ as I’ve come to think of it. On the face of it however it’s just another cold winter morning in Sydney. I’m sitting on the ferry with all the other rat racers holding our morning coffees waiting to start another day of trying to one-up each other in the concrete jungle that is the Sydney CBD. Well I say ‘waiting to start’ but for me anyway the working day began, as usual, when I picked up my phone and started reading emails immediately after I woke up. I’m sure my part time colleague and full time nemesis Jono did the same today too, that pesky brownnoser. It’s a big day for us and I, like Jono, intend to be a little bit richer and more important by the end of it.

Sipping my skim latte and reading my AFR, I become a little distracted and for a moment take smug satisfaction from the fact that I could not have pulled off a better suit, tie, watch and cufflink combination today. The dark grey tone of my Herringbone suit perfectly complimented by my black tie, white Hugo Boss shirt, black faced Omega watch and silver cufflinks, I even add a somewhat unnecessary but complimentary black scarf and umbrella; unnecessary as rain today is unlikely and the scarf does little or nothing to keep me warm.

The ferry docks and I enter my world. These streets and the offices that inhabit them have been good to me the last few years, and today I may be kissing a few paving slabs to show my gratitude.

Jono is in before me and I immediately notice how he has carefully untidied his desk to give the illusion that he has been in for hours, which of course he hasn’t. I see straight though this mainly due to the inane wink he gives me as I walk in ‘late’. I hope as always that Brian too sees straight through this farce. “Morning Jono, I assume Brian’s in?” I ask as he begins a few dramatic stretches. I get a strained “Yep” in response. Typical. “You look like you’ve been in for hours mate” I say sarcastically. Jono’s selective hearing of course means he didn’t register the remark. Jono knows Brian gets in at 8am, which means he would have got here today at 7.59am. It’s now 8.03am, “Damn ferries” I say to no one in particular.

My Brian sense tingles and I see him in the conference room. He glances at me and then at his gleaming gold Rolex. It says a thousand words. “Damn ferries” I curse again. Jono has done me like a kipper with this one, congratulations. Still, I have got some tricks up my carefully pressed Hugo Boss sleeves today, so I brush off this small defeat and sit down at my pine battle station and pick up the phone.




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