Car Park posturing

I lease a car that I use to get to + from work and also own a separate family motor. The lease car is, shall we say the "nice" one and the family motor is used as a skip with every nook and cranny stuffed with the kids garbage. (something in this car reeks of sweat but despite searching high and low we cant locate what it is and have to apologise to any random passengers - one day we'll unearth something green, gooeey and very smelly from some deep interior storage compartment)

My lease car is my "LOOK AT ME IVE GOT A GOOD JOB" car. I unashamedly use it for showing off and ensuring that my subordinates know I earn far more than they do. (ok its leased but they dont know that!) Sad, vacuous and shallow I realise but hey its my blog and Im just being honest.This led me to thinking that our car park really is a hotbed of hierachical posturing. At every level within our firm you have little battles going on regarding who's driving what and how new the car is. Women invariably tend to drive Mini's almost irrespective of rank or seniority.Men of power go for Beamers and the more senior you are - the bigger your Beamer number! Im a 5 series man but I may just opt for a number 7 this time around. If only to see the face of the top man who believes that 7's are for those at the pinnacle.

Last month we had a major blip in this otherwise consistent car park microcosm of society. A secretary (who calls herself an assistant but really she isnt - she's a typist for a muppet fee earner who cant use MS Word) pulls up in a lovely, superbly flashy mazda sports car. She previously had a Fiesta and so the tongues began wagging. I overheard a chat during a water cooler moment.

Not being blessed in the looks department - in fact she is as dowdy as Betty off Coronation Street - people decided she had come into some money possibly thru an inheritance. Then she started getting stick for showing off and being profligate!You wouldnt believe the jealousy that goes on over something so simple.

Fair play to her. Cant wait for the weather to get warm and see her pull up with her top down.

Take a look at your own works car park. I'll bet its much the same. The pecking order exists even before you reach the front door of most law firms