I thought I was being smart when, back in June, I ordered the children’s books for this coming school-year. It meant I avoided the rush of mass-ordering at the beginning of the term, and it also gave me the advantage of receiving everything I wanted.

In August I calmly started work, safe in the knowledge that all my material would be waiting for me. It was not.

I spoke to the accountant whom I had given the original order to, and she apologised, thinking she’d mislaid the paper somewhere. I spent a good half-day recounting and figuring out what it was I’d requested, then redid my order, slightly miffed but secure that the clerical error had been an unlucky incident.

3 weeks on and I had still not received any books, so I spoke to the accountant again. This time she went into the headmistress’s office to poke around, and returned with both of my orders, which had been lying amongst a pile of other papers; neither of the orders had been acted upon.

Now, finally, I’m reasonably sure I’ll soon have something for the children to read/write in, but this is another in a long line of fuck-ups that we encounter on an almost daily basis. I can only imagine what a demanding job it is to run a private school; I do, however, expect certain basic things to be sorted out without the kind of hassle that breeds contempt for my boss.