Postcard from the Kaisha 6

I have been freed from my gaijin exile, hard to believe I know, but it's true. At least for this week. Despite some perfectly good and decent cubes around me, I have been the only quarter in my quad since I started at the Kaisha. Except for that crazy week when it rained 10,000 yen notes and a secretary had the misfortune of being seated in my quad. They quickly remedied that SNAFU however, and I promptly found myself alone again in my quad.

Imagine my curiosity then, when towards the end of last week individual items like a computer monitor, a clipboard and a pen holder containing pencils adorned with pink furry ends began to appear on the desk across from me. I tried to deny it, unbelieving that the Kaisha would actually seat someone with me on more than a temporary basis. The move went forward in full force though, and I now share my quad with two secretaries. One of them I "kind of" know, as in she acknowledges me when necessary, and she actually came over to announce her arrival and we did the whole "please think of me fondly and let's be good to each other in the future" thing (nicely summed up in two words: yoroshiku onegaishimasu). The other one is fairly new and I only got a Good Morning from her, no So We're Sitting Together Now chit chat. In fact, I had to wait until the more seasoned one physically took her around to everyone for introductions to be introduced. But who am I to complain, this is the Kaisha.

As Seasoned was moving her stuff and getting settled, some of her secretary sisters came by to scope out her new digs or twitter and giggle as they did a walk-by. Perhaps this is normal behaviour here. If I were to include it in my conspiracy theory, I would tell you that they are giggling and casting sneaky glances around my quad because Seasoned has drawn the equivalent of the short straw in getting stuck in a quad with me. But I'm not telling you that. Am I?

We shall see how it all pans out, and whether these two ladies last for more than a week sharing my fair quad. One thing I am becoming unblissfully aware of however, is that I have to reel in my at-work equivalent of Secret Single Behaviour. Alone in my quad I was still wary of people walking around the office but I could still make a certain amount of noise, eat raw carrots and cubes of chocolate, and shake my caramel macchiato with wild abandon so that the espresso and milk become one. I even, wait for it, have blown my noise on occasion when I can't be bothered going into the bathroom, turning on the Sound Princess and having a good old honk. Now I am under the close scrutiny of two secretaries who type quietly, speak in hushed tones and hang up their phones slowly so as not to allow the receiver to make a sound upon hitting the home base. Am I about to enter secretary boot camp? We shall soon see...