An Education in Itself... 

MANY years ago, when I was still in harness as a wage-slave, one of the Senior people in our Organisation had a brainwave. It was decided that every grade of post should fit certain criteria so that like could be compared like to like for pay and other benefits. In other words, a cost cutting measure – but I digress. 

As part of the process, they got everyone to produce a (very) detailed review/explanation of everything they did in their position (obviously because their managers didn’t know that information). At that time my job covered quite a bit of ground, and I was often tasked with things that other people simply didn’t want to do. My BIG boss, who I had a lot of time and respect for, would give me fiddly or difficult tasks knowing that I both liked that sort of thing – anything out of the ordinary – and would accomplish them in the most efficient way possible (I also suspect that at least at times she didn’t think I had enough to do). 

One of those tasks was disposal of old IT that had been accumulated over the years and had either become obsolete or had broken and been replaced. The resulting junk had been stuffed in cabinets and forgotten about. We did, being a LARGE organisation, have procedures for such things but no one knew who to ask or what to do, so it was given to me to sort out. Of course, one of the first things I needed to do was find out the size of the problem (HUGE it turned out) by asking people what they had that needed disposing of. The e-mails I got back were, to be honest, a mess. It seemed that people didn’t actually know what IT meant, so I had a variety of other kit – from phones to fax machines to coffeemakers on the lists I received back. This meant, naturally, that I’d have to separate the information I wanted from the rest – to separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’. This process is called WINNOWING. So, to finally get to my point, I put on my job description that a part of what I did was.... winnowing. This caused a problem. 

When my immediate boss received my requested job details for upward transmission, they asked what winnowing meant, so I told her. She suggested that I remove the word ‘because no one would know what it meant’ and I refused stating that the word was *exactly* what I did. So, after a few huffs she sent it on. Not long after I received a visit from HER boss asking about the word ‘winnowing’. Again, I explained what it meant and again I was requested to remove it and again I refused, explaining (again) that it was *exactly* the process I used. After a few more huffs it was sent on and I forgot about it. Until... 

About 4-6 weeks later my BIG boss – the Section Head – asked me for a chat. She had just returned from a ‘conference’ of Section Heads (about 60 of them) from across the Organisation to discuss the new regularised job descriptions. This was run by the BIG BIG boss and a panel of the upper echelons of the Organisation, so it was a fairly big affair. She was sitting next to another Section Head (who I also knew) when the discussion up-front turned to ‘unusual’ or unexpected elements of people’s job descriptions. The word ‘winnowing’ came up as the most unheard of and reference was made to the fact that they had to ‘look it up’. At this point the BIG boss turned to her friend, the other Section Head, and quietly said “that was [real name redacted]”. When she told me this later, I was just SO amused as well as more than a little disappointed that so few people knew what it meant. I mean, don’t people read 19th century countryside novels anymore? But, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, just being physically near me for any length of time is an education in itself. 

In related (but not as funny) news, another of the BIG bosses (Section Heads) told me (something I was unaware of at the time) that the local Organisation – of about 350 people – had a hierarchy of educational attainment that went from Level 1 to Level 5 (with 5 being the highest). I was the only person who had reached Level 4... Twice. My actual position in the organisation, which had quite a few levels (30 at least I think) was TWO levels up from the bottom. I think they heard me laughing in the next building....