I answer the phones here, while doing billing and purchasing and all my HR duties. I don't like it, but it can be done.

"Boss, woman asked me to cover phones all week for missing receptionist. I can do that if you want me to, but it will affect how much of my own work I can get done this week. Do you want me to?"

Or you could just say that the radiation at the reception desk interferes with your silica pathways.

That is, if you don't mind outing yourself as a Cylon....

edit to fix spelling of sci-fi term....

That's one of the most annoying things at work: "Hey, can you do X?" "Welllll, I could, but I don't want to!" "Why not?" "Um, because I don't?"

When I was temping and I'd get lots of questions I'd just say "I'm sorry, I'm a temp and I don't have that information, would you like to leave a message?"

That generally worked.

Emily, does your boss know that this woman wants you to answer phones all week?

Well, that's sort of a problem... I'm not sure who my boss is. It could be the new Dean, whom I've barely exchanged five words with and dosn't know what I do. It could be the Special Assistant to the Dean, who only comes in three days a week. It probably is him, actually. The problem is that I'm pretty self-guided -- which I love, but... eh. As I say, I don't think there's anything to be done. And my productivity won't go down, as I said -- I can probably do things over there just as easily as over here (I never said it can't be done, just that I hate doing it). It'll just make me really uncomfortable, and I wish the request hadn't been phrased as though it were a minor inconvenience. For one thing, it makes me feel interchangeable. I'm not a snowmobile part!

OK, still more Dalek wackiness....

[link]

ARMED police sprang into action after spotting A DALEK outside Parliament.

Worried the tin-plated terror was about to 'Exterminate' the Government, they quickly trained their machine guns on the invader. But the man behind the suit - Dr Who fan Ken Meikle, 46 - was able to convince them his Dalek's cannon fired nothing more deadly than water.

After delivering a stern ticking off, the officers escorted the lifesize fibreglass replica safely away from Westminster.

Ken, of Barrhead, Renfrewshire, was in London filming a promotional video for a stage version of cult classic Dr Who.

He has spent thousands of pounds creating Scotland's only fully motorised Dalek, which has a top speed of 5mph.

The Dalek even features a digital voice box which sounds exactly like the original robots, Dr Who's arch enemies in the classic show. Ken said: 'We had spent the whole morning filming in London and brought the place to a standstill.

'Cars were grinding to a halt in disbelief when they saw a Dalek trundling over Tower Bridge.

'And we were mobbed by Japanese tourists desperate for photos.

'But within seconds of the Dalek arriving outside Parliament, armed police officers came running up.

'It's fair to say they were not amused at being invaded by a time-travelling robot. 'They asked us what the hell we were doing, and then marched us as far away from Parliament as they could.

Or you could just say that the radiation at the reception desk interferes with your cilica pathways.

This would definitely be better.

ita, did I just spot Leslie on a preview for "The Closer"?

I don't think so. But since she and Colin broke up, I'm not so up to date on what she's doing.

Well, it's nice to know that there will be a speedy police response if Parliament should ever be invaded by Daleks.

According to the chart thingies, I'm supposed to weigh 185, which I think is absurd.

How tall are you again, Kalshane? My doctor told me last year that 185 was my ideal weight loss goal (200 being the realistic one), and I'm 5'11". If I'm remembering correctly that you're at least 6'2", I can't imagine that applying to you as well.