1 We spoke about how things were going in general and then we finally got down to discussing my workload. We talked about how we could define my duties more clearly and she agreed that I could hand over some of my work to colleagues. So, hopefully, I'll now be able to concentrate on the things I was hired to do in the first place.

2 My boss said that even though money was tight, they 'd support me if I wanted to study for a management qualification. She said that the company could subsidies the cost of the course, and she promised to be flexible about holidays. But the company woud benefit from the skills I'd learn anyway, so it's in their interests as well.

3 It was very difficult because the company's been quite good to me, really. I mean, the conditions are good and I can't really complain about salary, either. But I explained I'd been here five years now and I'm still doing the same job. I also mentioned that I'd applied for a couple of internal vacancies but got nowhere. And on one occasion the position was given to someone who started well after I did.

4 Well, it started off with the usual stuff. You know, he thanked me for all the hard work and things like that. But then he started on about missed deadlines and careless mistakes. The thing is, half of the things he mentioned weren't even my responsibility. I complained about the lack of support I'd had from management but he just wasn't interested. And then he asked me to write a full report on what had gone wrong. I can't believe it!

5 All in all, the appraisal was very positive. The only thing is, of course, having such a successful year means that management gets carried away and expects miracles from you all the time. I told my boss that I wasn't sure we'd be able to repeat last year's performance. But he ignored me, of course, and produced this set of ridiculous objectives that he thougnt' d be an 'exciting challenge'. You really have to wonder sometimes which planet management's on.