The numbers game

4/7/2008 last of the date whoopies I hope
When I had a propa job, month ends were always difficult as were quarter and year end results. We were chasing numbers, sales figures for the period, returns on capital employed, returns on sales; Key Performance Indicators KPIs the chase was unending. When you got the numbers right there always seemed some more to be concerned about. I dealt with this well in the main and managed to keep the numbers on the right side for our accountants, well most of the time. When I retired I sort of half expected not to have to worry so much about numbers. Then the world conspired against me. Now a days with stock markets being what they are pension investment numbers are all going in the wrong direction and there are two nasty blood numbers which keep going up and down like a yoyo but the general trend is the wrong direction. Problem is I personally can’t do anything about any of it. I’m in the hands of the doctors with the blood and market forces with the pension.
The good news though is that I am dealing well with my treatment and feeling stronger day by day. It will be a few days before I get the next set of blood numbers and the anxiety levels closer to the time more than match anything I faced when I was working. Failure in those days meant a bollocking at worst, failure now don’t bear thinking about.