The Pod from Hell

I work in an open-plan office, laid out in 'pods' of four desks. On my pod are:

Anna: normal. Fun. Sense of humour, including a full compliment of cynicism, sarcasm and irony. Good pod-buddy.

Skippy: unbelievably up-beat and hyper. No personal boundaries. Believes everything is 'nice!' and 'luvly!*', and if you don't answer a personal question, she'll just keep asking until she has extracted all the information she wants. Listens to loud music on her iPod. Annoying and loud laugh (rather like the rest of her personality). Treats me like her personal IT fixer (my job is nothing to do IT - I just use my initiative). Recently knocked up, and sharing all the joyous symptoms! Bad pod-buddy.

Ermentrude: rather bovine. Agrees with Skippy about the niceness of everything. Talent for asking long-winded questions just after one says 'I must go now!' or 'I'm in such a rush!'. Quieter than Skippy, but also thinks I'm in IT. Needs everything to be explained slowly, and 20 or 30 times. Mediocre pod-buddy.

The other purpose of this blog is to work out my frustrations with Skippy and Ermentrude anonymously, so that I can be pleasant and unfrustrated in person. This is very difficult to achieve, so I need all the help I can get.

*Should be pronounced with simpering Northern accent