Tales from the Wendy House

I took an extended break over the Christmas period to recharge my batteries and get set for 2024. Rayyyyy! Well not completely ray because I caught Covid and it wiped out my Christmas 🙁

Last week I watched Mr Bates v The Post Office – I’m not the first to post on this I know before you all shout at me. However, it got me thinking about the “scale of awfulness” (SOA). Something that I use a lot both personally and when mentoring others.

For those not familiar with the SOA – you think of the worst possible thing that could happen in your life (score 100) and then measure everything else against that number when things are difficult – it helps bring things into perspective. For example my SOA for coming back into the office after Christmas was about 10 – I rarely have had that Sunday night feeling for which I’m very lucky. However, dealing with a family illness over the whole of 2023 was difficult and awful – that gets a 70. I think you get the picture.

Imagine then, the scale of awfulness for the Post Office workers. My 70 score was probably their 1. The feeling of helplessness, loneliness, shame, embarrassment, being out of control must have been off the scale let alone 100. There is always someone worse off than you. Someone who isn’t just feeling sorry for themselves, but someone who is having their life ripped apart through no fault of their own and having no control over the situation. This drama series has really affected me, as it has millions of others. How can normal people end up in a situation where they can go to prison so easily? Totally losing your freedom – very high SOA score.

There is always someone worse of than you. I keep repeating this in my head.

So the next time I get stuck in traffic or things don’t go according to plan, I will hold onto the POSOA – The Post Office Scale of Awfulness because this is real and involves real people.

Well done to Freeths for picking up this case.

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