Interesting day today. Okay, well, it was a pretty crappy day, but at least it was interesting. ;)
I didn’t want to come in this morning. Phil made me because he is a bastard. Well, not really, he was just trying to be reasonable, but he still made me leave when all I wanted to do was sit there and watch him naked at the ironing board. Is that too much to ask?
So, finally at work, a mail from our CEO goes out saying that we all need to meet in the break room for an announcement. Much speculation. The announcement was that our company may be taken over by one of our competitors, and if they meet the share price, the board will view the buyout favourably. Yikes…I totally didn’t see that one coming. Everyone was both angry and stunned. It does explain the political maneuvering in the site audit meeting yesterday, though…the retail people must be crapping themselves, and see the e-tailing team as the strongest place to be. The company that is going to buy us out is another old, British manufacturer of luxury goods, just as we are. The resulting company would be fairly strong, actually, but the fallout for individuals is not going to be pleasant. Where does that leave me? I’m not sure. I’m looking around, definitely. After investing the massive amount of money that they have in the Blue Martini system, it’s not likely that that investment will be scrapped. But I don’t know.
In the afternoon we walked the US people through the site, which was mainly a training exercise for their customer service people before the site goes formally live…and at checkout, it wouldn’t accept the credit card and put the order through. Jesus, NOT good. I think it was a problem with Cybersource, but that’s not my bailiwick. We’d tested with UK credit cards, but there wasn’t a US card to test with, and the US didn’t get around to doing it. Crap.
I did go out and see Kip tonight, tramping through twenty acres of muddy, hilly pasture to find him (exchanging my suede boots for wellies, but still dressed in a short black skirt, VERY cold) and haul him out for blanketing and feed. He stepped on the back of my ankle, dragging his big plate foot down the back of my achilles tendon, very painful. Just as he finished and I put him back, the lightning started, the rain was horizontal, and it was hailing. I had a bright orange slicker on, green wellies, a NY Yankees baseball cap, and red marks all over one cheek where hail was hitting my face. I swear there were fishies swimming around inside my boots – I could feel them!
I think we’re going to get the Gambian Pouched rats. Here’s a pic that Phil posted of them:
They’re very expensive, but I think we’re going to throw caution to the wind and get them – all the way in Scotland. Plus a huge cage, more appropriate for them than the ones that we have (their feet can’t handle wire, and they need all flat surfaces). :)
“it’s not likely that that investment will be scrapped.”
data point: in this mornings Computing they reported that Sainsbury’s is writing off £260m in new IT / supply chain development costs.
Someone in is looking at those same rats!
yup … hubby ;-)
Yikes. Well, ok, yes, they may just walk away from the giant compile of poo that we’ve been dealing with (and who could blame them?). Very possible.
lol…yes, Phil was trying to get some feel for the price that she was asking. £200 is a LOT of money – are other people charging £20? Is the £200 for the pair justified because they are rare? No idea. We just thought they were very cute, and would make interesting, intelligent pets. (Phil’s terribly allergic to animals, so we can’t have dogs or cats – rats don’t bother him as long as he doesn’t get scratched or touch their tails.)