Thursday 20 August 2009: Charientism

Charientism n. An elegantly veiled insult

A second not very good image in a row, but this actually illustrates the word chosen yesterday pretty well. Looks innocuous doesn't it...

The email is from my boss, referring to my legal practicing certificate. About 6 months after I started here (around 5 years ago) the job of in-house 'solicitor' was pretty much changed entirely by the cost of the practicing certificate being deemed too expensive in terms of both time (out of the office fulfilling CPD requirements) and money (about £600 at the time I think).

To put that into context I have three times at greater cost each time been flown (all involving hotel stays as well) to deliver proposals (Sarajevo, Athens and Beirut) because 'we' didn't trust the couriers to get them there on time (and I'm not the only person to have done this); payment for lunch for the boss comes out of petty cash, every single day, at a cost of more than the certificate each year; and a consultant in here wasn't happy with the hundreds of fonts on our system for a presentation he was doing and spent £1500 on a new one to look 'right'.

And they are just a few examples. I could go to town on this.

So I pay £70 a year out of my own pocket to remain on the roll with the law society, which keeps my name there, and makes getting a practicing certificate easier after so long without one, but I can't call myself a 'solicitor' (or indeed 'legal counsel' as the boss likes to refer to me as to other people, while internally treating me like a skivvy).

So whether unintentional or not, a veiled insult indeed, and one that I just had to laugh at when the email came in. Put it this way, it would be a bit like George W Bush sending an email to Saddam Hussein saying "Good Morning, have you still got a country?"

EDIT:

Keep forgetting to say that to keep the challenge running, I need a number between 1 and 166, and another between 1 and 4, to choose the next word from my Superior Person's Book of Words.

• NIKON D40:
• f/5.6:
• 1/50":
• 55mm:
• ISO 400

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