Bob Smith’s business, BobCo, has gone down the pan in spectacular fashion (through no fault of his own - it was due to a crippling damages claim resulting from a freak intrusion of cows into his farmyard offices). To fund his regular holidays to Paris, he decides to apply for a job at Deti*a. Deti*a are a friendly CRM consultancy who were instrumental in helping him set up BobCo, so he knows that it will be a great place to work.

Bob arranges his interview appointment by e-mail, which he promptly and accidentally deletes, so he rather sheepishly calls the company on his mobile to check the details.

On the day of his interview, he arrives at Deti*a’s offices to discover that they have changed their name to "Etica" and also apparently changed their business focus yet again. Undeterred, he strides confidently to the door and pulls it as hard as he can, but it doesn’t budge. He tries the other door, which also doesn’t move. Another prospective candidate arrives but also cannot get in. They gesticulate helplessly at the reception staff, who kindly get up and hold the door open for them. Bob sheepishly makes a note on his PDA that he is supposed to push the door to open it, not pull it.

Six months later. The company is now called "Tica" and it is Bob’s first day at work. He meets many other friendly new starters and participates in a number of training courses with them, some of which are fairly tedious but some of which are genuinely stimulating. His new colleagues quickly introduce him to the triple gods of free lunches, free alcoholic drinks and free KitKats, as well as to their antithesis, the satanic pastime known by the deceptively serene moniker "Proof-reading".

Bob goes on a company go-karting trip, but discovers he’s awful at it, so decides to stick to curry nights and films from now on. He uses his WAP-enabled mobile to make a note in his on-line journal.

Bob is shown a number of faintly amusing company marketing videos involving a snooty character called "John Brown" who gets involved in all sorts of exciting adventures, accompanied by electronically-created music and the faint whiff of gorgonzola. Bob makes a resolution, which he notes down on his iPAQ, to make his own spoof John Brown cartoon before the end of the year... watch this space.