Ugh, was it really Monday morning already? I leaned across to switch off the alarm clock (which had rudely awoken me from a pretty damn good dream about a hot blonde chick), and then stretched and yawned. Yeah, it was that time again and I had the Monday morning blues before the day had really started!

I took a quick shower and then rummaged in my wardrobe for something half decent to wear. Why we had to wear shirt and tie in our office, I don’t know. It’s not like we were a customer facing office, we dealt with them over the phone. But the powers that be had decided that staff dressed casually would only mean a casual attitude towards work. It was total bullshit if you asked me!

So having thrown on a pair of trousers, shirt and a tie, I just had enough time to shovel some cereal down my throat before I had to leave. I had an eight o’clock start this morning and if I didn’t get a move on, the boss would be having words.

“Fucking great” I banged my hand against the steering wheel as I came to yet another red traffic light. It was as if everything was against me today, which is always the way when you need to be somewhere in a hurry. But before long, I was pulling into the car park and parking my car. The good thing about an eight o’clock start is that the car park is relatively empty, so I managed to find a space close to the building.

“Morning Nick” my boss, Kevin, said as he made a point of looking at his watch.

“Morning Kevin” I replied as I walked over to my desk and switched on my PC.

“Alex has called in sick, so it’s just you covering the phones until eight thirty, OK” Kevin called as I entered my password and waited for my profile to load up.

“OK” I called over the desks. I was in no doubt that Alex had probably had too much of a good time over the weekend and needed today to recover. I’d have to give him a prank call later when Kevin had gone to the cafeteria for his morning coffee. It worked like a charm every time!

I logged in to all my applications, put my headset on and then waited for the inevitable rush of calls that a Monday morning usually brought. I didn’t have long to wait. Thirty seconds after going online to be precise. Just great!

“DCWW Service Desk, Nick speaking, how can I help today?” I asked in my polite telephone voice which I’d developed since working here.

“I’ve got a problem with my screen…the writing has all turned sideways” the guy on the other end of the phone said.

“OK, well first of all, I’ll need your name so that I can get your details up” I replied. I didn’t deal with just any old member of the public. Our company provided IT solutions for businesses, many of them huge household names with offices globally.

“Phil Mitchell” he replied and I tapped it into my computer, moments later his details populated the fields of my call log.

“And can you just confirm your phone number?” I asked. Our call quality team picked up on all the little details like that.

After confirming his phone number and getting the asset tag of his machine, I told him I was going to access his PC remotely and resolve his issue. Within a couple of minutes I had a happy customer and a closed call. It was a good start to the day.

By eight thirty, I’d already had fifteen calls, most of which were password resets. Why is it that people forget their password after being away from their desks for just two days? I had passwords for so many applications and somehow, I managed to remember them all.

“Dude, thank god you’re here… good weekend?” I called across the desk to Brian, who’d just arrived. He sat opposite me and was my partner in crime in this place.

“The weekend is always good when I’m not in this dump” he laughed “you?”

“Ah, you know, the usual” I replied

“Pizza and Xbox?” he teased “you really need to get out more”

“It was Chinese actually” I replied and flicked a rolled up ball of paper at him “and what did you do that was so much better?”

“Actually, I think I would’ve preferred your weekend. I was dragged around the shops by Leighanne” he grimaced.

“Say no more my friend, I feel your pain” I empathised. I was so glad I was still single. Brian and Leighanne had only been married a couple of years but to me, that seemed like a lifetime.

At that point Brian got a call and was unable to talk any more. I pulled faces at him, hoping to distract him, but he wasn’t easily distracted, unlike myself.

“Did she have you looking at wallpaper again?” I laughed once he’d finished his call and we were back on the subject of his weekend. I knew they were planning on re-decorating the living room.

“Curtains and cushions this time…oh and she decided I needed to update my wardrobe” he shook his head “it’s pointless arguing with her, she gets what she wants in the end”

“You are so whipped” I laughed

“Just you wait till you’re married” Brian replied “then we’ll see who’s whipped”

“Not gonna happen bro, you know I don’t believe in marriage” I replied, shaking my head.

“You’ll change your mind one day” he retorted “anyway, where’s Alex?”

I got another call just then and was unable to reply, but luckily it was just to set someone up with access to a mailbox. After a few minutes I was done and replying to Brian.

“Sick” I said, my fingers doing air quotes.

“Yeah, all partied out more likely” Brian shook his head “that boy will end up on his final warning if he doesn’t watch it”. Alex was getting into the habit of pulling a sickie after a hard weekend of partying and had already had a couple of verbal warnings from the boss; the next step was a written warning and then out. The rest of us knew how to have fun in work without getting into trouble. Alex didn’t seem to give a shit when it came to rules; he liked to live by his own set of rules.