We Are Not Being Served !

There has been a flurry (or should that be storm ?) of correspondence in my local paper recently about the wages of local government officers. Many feel these to be too high, and the upmarket vehicles on display in the council's car park are a particular gripe. My own view is that this is a difficult issue. Some council work does need to be well rewarded, to attract and retain high quality staff. However, the remuneration "package" for the new chief executive of said local authority was reported by a local councillor to be approaching £200K, which seemed rather steep, even by the standards of overpaid and under worked GPs.

I have to say that I was particularly unimpressed by a recent encounter with another new director (bearing the name "communities" in her job title) of the same council. A"stakeholder group" meeting for a major PFI project was in danger of being cancelled because of low attendance, so I thought I'd better go (in a voluntary capacity I hasten to add). The meeting was packed with paid staff from other local institutions, with rather fewer people, like myself, attending in the public interest. Needless to say, there was a great deal of waffle by the public sector cronies, and a few probing questions and points made from those attending in their own unpaid time.

At the end of it all, the new local authority director, a busty woman, bearing a passing resemblance to the character of Mrs Slocum in that classic British comedy series "Are You Being Served ?" - who'd spent a good deal of time fiddling with her earrings during the meeting (I'm sure you know the type !) - approached me to ask how I came to be in attendance (incidentally I was invited !) She clearly hadn't liked my contributions - obviously a reality check too far - and was obviously hoping to exclude me from future sessions, something I wouldn't mind, having only attended out of a sense of public service....and local authorities wonder why they can't attract high calibre councillors !

As for Mrs "Director" Slocum, I'm afraid she lacked both customer service skills and any sense of humour : both core competences for her position, I should think. Therefore, dock her pay, I say !