Some Problem, Different Approach

Last week Friday was Red Nose Day. For those of you that are unaware of Red Nose Day, it's the day that funds are raised, for Charity, to help children in the UK and Africa. They operate various schemes to get individuals, groups and businesses involved in donating money. Because the UK is a very much a "lottery" nation, they have employed similar tactics when designing these games. There is nothing wrong with that at all!

So our Receptionist has taken on the role to get promotional material for an office game. The basic idea is that you donate some money and some goes to charity while some goes into a sort of lottery draw with an eventual winner in the office. This game is run as a voluntary thing and if you join in, then you can win something while donating to charity.

Not to level criticism at Red Nose Day, because I think that if anything, they are raising awareness of the issues affecting poor African children, I have never known of anyone benefiting from money raised in the poorest and troubled African Countries! Red Nose does a lot of PR work showing their work in stable, democratic African Nations, the same ones that receive loads of grants from the World Bank, EEC, and various 1st world countries to do what Red Nose raises money for.

Anyway, I did not participate in the game because I am from Africa, and I know most aid and charity in Africa is abused by Government officials. I actually support Marie Curie Cancer Care who do a sterling job of looking after terminal ill Cancer patients in the UK, something that the NHS neglect! I had the Receptionist come up to me and demand that I pay £1 for Red Nose day. I refused to do so because I did not join in any games, and I can give my money to whoever I like. I hope that these Red Nose Day people are not encouraging their contact people in these businesses to force money out of people!

It's now Monday and the demands have changed. I have to give my £1 to the girl that won the competition, because she must take her share for winning the competition. There is no way in hell that I am going to give money to someone. I can donate to charity, but I am not donating to someone else. This is now bordering on madness if the Receptionist thinks that I am going to play this game with her. Anyway, she has sent out an email telling everyone how much was raised, and adding a note at the bottom of the email that I owe money. I am not going to even get involved in this nonsense, I will just ignore it! I passed her desk and she asked me for my money, AGAIN! I told her that I donated directly to the charity and she said "oh?"

A colleague of mine said don't even fight about it, just give her the money otherwise she will just go on and on about it. I refuse because I will not be spoken to like a child and I did not participate in any Red Nose Charity events, because it's not a requirement. The people at work already think badly of me so it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks to be perfectly honest. They can call me what ever they want! The Receptionist and the Complaint Girl have already blackened my name, and HR have done nothing about it!

On the plus side, I started saying a Novena that I found starring at me in Church last week. IT was a Novena to St. Jude to pray for me. I had to try the Novena because St. Jude was the Saint I used when I got confirmed as a Catholic when I was a teenager. Prayer is very powerful to all of you who are not sure if God exists at all! Try praying, it really does work. I have since attended a job interview on Friday and have been offered the position before I left the interview, a bit of a result if you ask me! I have a few more potential interviews lined up which I hope will resolve my work life issues.