It's been a long time since I was last at school. I can be as childish as the next person, but I'm mostly a grown up now and I suppose I assumed most other grown ups around me are too.

So imagine my surprise to find that a former colleague of mine had gone to one of my clients and started telling tales.

Let me take a step back here. I never went to university or college. My final year of high school had been traumatic enough and I just wanted to get out into the world. I had a couple of jobs before I started in the usability industry ("What's that?" I hear you ask. "A story for another time," I reply. "Just trust me on this.") about nine years ago. I was looking for any sort of work and this usability company was looking for a receptionist. I got the job (which is also a story for another time and involves great breasts and great legs.)

I worked as their receptionist for about a year. My desktop publishing skills were pretty good, so I spent more time assisting them with their usability course material than I did answering the phone. When their full-time desktop publisher left, they offered me his job.

I did that for a bit, sometimes helping the usability consultants with their reports and documentation. Eventually, management decided that I had a talent for consulting and promoted me to consulting.

So, I've literally worked my way up from the bottom of the industry. I've been surrounded by all things usability for nine years. I love my work. But I have no formal qualifications to do it.

And that is what my former colleague decided my current client needed to know.

Now, I do not claim to have any more experience than I do. I tell people that I've been in the industry for nine years and I've been consulting full time for five of those years. I tell people that I have a background in desktop publishing, but that I have no formal qualifications. That seems to be enough for most people.

Fortunately, my client had the presence of mind to come straight to me and let me know what this idiot was up to. I guess I must pose some sort of threat to him, I don't know. But it seems pretty childish to me, and I'll know to keep an eye on him from now on. It's a small industry, like a schoolyard.

On a more pleasant childish note, I was walking to the tram stop during the week. There is a primary (elementary) school on the street corner, a busy road on one side and an eight lane main road with trams running down the middle of it on the other. While the school has a good, sturdy fence around it to keep the kids out of the traffic, they also put a basketball hoop a couple of feet away from the fence. And the fence is not very tall, so you can imagine what must happen with alarming regularity.

As I walked past the school, a miserable face poked through the fence and called to me. "Excuse me, lady. Could you please get our ball for us?"

He pointed. There was a soccer ball on the other side of the road. I saw the tram coming and knew I'd never make it if I rescued the ball, but the poor kid looked so miserable and as I stood there, his team mates surrounded him and started begging me for the ball.

Eh, fuck it, I thought. If the client complains I'm late for my meeting because I rescued a ball for a yard full of kids, they're not worth working for. I began to dodge traffic and went to get the ball.

I could suddenly hear a roar behind me. Startled, I turned around to discover the entire lunch time school yard was pressed against the fence shouting "Three cheers for the nice lady! Hip, hip, hooray!" I grinned, tossed their ball back over the fence and went to catch the next tram, waving at the kids as they shouted their thanks over the noise of the passing traffic.

I think a little childish behaviour can make your day.

P.S. I've got comments up and running again, but it won't display your previous comments. Don't worry, I've still got them all, and I'm working on getting them displaying again. Thanks for your patience!