Where the dustbin-men would once spot a rat and send for the rat-catcher, the refuse disposal operatives now report the matter to their senior deployment officer, who may, if the latest cuts have left such services unimpaired, sanction the utilisation of the council rodent operatives. Occasionally, a new title is well justified. Zoe Ross, who a decade earlier might have been called a secretary, was now Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive. It was an accurate description of her role in the firm, for the man she assisted would certainly have been lost without her. She did far more than type, and occasionally improve, his letters. She discussed his week’s schedule, arranged his appointments, booked his first-class tickets for his monthly flights across the Atlantic, diverted people who wanted to see him to other and more appropriate executives of the firm. She was an integral part of her boss’s success, and he was shrewd enough to realise it. He even tried to ensure that her holidays coincided with his.
