Working Mum: The mother of all baby showers - Wharf

By Tabitha Ronson

We are hosting a baby shower for our two pregnant team colleagues as they head off on maternity leave.

Despite being confronted with two humungous bumps daily, my boss is still in denial. I'm guessing reality might just bite at the shower.

True to form Young Colleague is in the thick of everything, organising the venue (Wahaca), the flowers (Brown's), the pressies (The White Company and Jo Malone), invites (Paperchase). I think she'd organise the respective deliveries if she felt it could earn her another Brownie Badge. It brings a whole new meaning to Water Rescuer.

The shower has been her baby. Since our colleagues announced their pregnancies, Young Colleague has talked of little else. She has been on websites, read blogs, bought magazines; no cotton wool ball has been left unturned. This will be the Mother of all Baby Showers.

As with everything relating to Young Colleague, I puzzle over her motives.

My boss doesn't "do" pregnant seeing it as inconvenient and burdensome. She is losing two key staff members and having to take on temporary staff with whom she has neither the patience nor the inclination to incorporate into the team. So The Shower wouldn't curry favour in that department.

Young Colleague has also already "benefitted" from the pregnancies, my boss promoting her to a more senior role for the duration of the maternity leave. So, again, The Shower would not gain her any further leverage on that front.

And then I stopped myself, remembering my 2013 resolution to always think kind thoughts, and not be cynical, about Young Colleague.

I felt bad I had doubted her good intentions and decided to make a concerted effort to be friendlier.

"Tabitha!" My boss called me into the office. "I mentioned to Young Colleague several months back about an idea I had for branching out into family events.

"I told her I would be looking to you to head it up. But I like the way she's thrown herself into this Baby Shower. What do you think..."

Working Mum, thinking the unprintable.

Source: http://www.wharf.co.uk/2013/03/working-mum-the-mother-of-all-.html

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