Every week, Alex and I always said we’d only have a pint or two, but it always turned into a couple more to wash down our curry with. So I woke up on Thursday morning with a bit of a headache and took a couple of paracetamols before my shower.

What I really needed though was something greasy to eat, so I decided to stop off at the McDonald’s drive through on my way to work. A bacon and egg McMuffin and a hash brown would sort me out! I think quite a few people had had the same idea as me because the drive through was really busy. But it was worth it. I needed a good unhealthy bit of grease to get me through the morning. I ate it as I drove so that I wouldn’t be too late getting into the office, and then made sure I didn’t have any evidence left around my mouth before I got out of the car. It wouldn’t look too good if I walked in with tomato sauce dribbled down my chin.

I was a couple of minutes late getting into work, Kevin gave me the look when I walked in, so I told him there was a queue at the petrol station. I could hardly tell him I was late because I was stuffing my face with McDonalds, he would’ve been pissed off.

“OK” he said. There was nothing else he could say, apart from I could’ve got petrol the day before.

“Here comes the loser” Alex grinned as I got to my desk and sat down.

“I’ll beat you next time” I replied and turned on my computer.

“Whatever” he laughed and then turned his attention back to the call he’d just received.

“We heard all about it” Brian said “he’s been boasting that he beat you”

“It was a fluke, I’ll beat him next time” I replied, then got a call and had to put on my business attitude “DCWW Service Desk, Nick speaking how can I help?”

“Hi Nick” my customer said “I’ve accidentally deleted an important document and really need to get it back”

“OK, I’ll see what I can do. First could I get your name please?” I asked and typed it into the computer, bringing her details up in front of me.

“Can you confirm your phone number?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s 01926 975310” Carol replied “you want my asset number too?”

“Yes please” I replied. It made a nice change for customers to be offering the information freely without me having to force it out of them. Some customers just made things harder for themselves when they fussed over giving details out. How did they expect help when they weren’t prepared to help themselves?

Although I couldn’t retrieve the file, I sent the call to the backup team who would be able to get it off the server for her. So she was happy with the call and told me to have a nice day, I wished the same for her. If only all customers were so polite! Unfortunately my next customer was one of those who made life difficult. He questioned everything I was asking him for, wanting to know why he should have to give his phone number and asset number every time he called.

“It’s to make sure we have the up to date information for you” I replied “people move desks all the time and if I don’t have the right asset number, I can’t connect to your machine and resolve your issue”

“I’ve been at this desk for five years” he moaned at me “and still you ask me”.

There was no pleasing this guy. So I sorted his problem out and was happy to get him off the phone.

By the afternoon, we’d quietened down and had time to chat amongst ourselves. It had been a busy morning. Somehow the conversation got on to cartoons we used to watch when we were kids. I could’ve talked all day about cartoons!

“Dungeons and Dragons was just awesome” I said “I always used to wish I could ride that rollercoaster and be transported to another dimension”.

“Half the time you are in another dimension” Alex threw a pen across at me, bouncing off the top of my head and onto the floor.

“Hey” I said and threw it back at him.

“I preferred He-Man” Howie said with a shrug.

“How could you prefer He-Man to Dungeons and Dragons?” I asked.

“I just do” Howie defended his answer.

“By the power of Greyskull” Brian said, standing up and pretending a rolled up piece of A4 paper was his magic sword as he posed in a He-Man stance “I have the power”

“Skeletor was a great baddie, you have to agree” Howie said

“Suppose so” I agreed

“I loved He-Man too” Alex chipped in “what about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

We all nodded in agreement that we’d loved it.

“Anyone remember Battle of The Planets?” Howie asked

“Not sure” I replied, the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember the cartoon.

“It was about a bunch of superheroes called G-Force who battled this evil dude, can’t remember his name” Howie replied “it was so cool”

“I wonder if we watched them now, would we still love them as much as we did back in the day” Brian wondered out loud.

“Hell, I still watch cartoons” I replied with a grin. I couldn’t imagine ever growing out of liking cartoons and even had the script for the last ever Dungeons and Dragons episode which had never been made. The show had been cancelled.

“You would” Howie teased.

“Did any of you ever get the hots for a cartoon character?” Alex asked.

“Trust you to think of that!” Brian laughed.

“Well I know I did” I answered.

“Oh yeah, who?” Howie asked

“Daphne from Scooby Doo” I said.

“Oh yeah, she was on my list too” Alex nodded.

“She-Ra” I said.

“She was hot” Alex agreed yet again “what about Jessica Rabbit?”

“God yeah” I agreed “she was hot”

“Guys…they’re cartoon characters!” Howie laughed.

“So” I said “they were hot cartoon characters”

Howie just didn’t seem to get it, but the rest of us obviously shared the same views. Brian reluctantly agreed that Jessica Rabbit was hot.

The end of the working day arrived and I was glad to get out of there. I’d had the call from hell about ten minutes before I was due to finish and never thought I’d solve it. Thank god for Google!