Twice in the past year there had been an office party to celebrate excellent business successes. Twice the big head sherang* had driven all the way from New York for the occasion. Twice Ivor had enjoyed the celebration drinks, and twice he had embarrassed himself by drinking too much whiskey. It wasn’t that he was a drunk; it’s simply that he enjoyed the occasion, for he was responsible by and large for the business successes they were celebrating.
But embarrassing! My goodness! If they ever had another celebration he would stick to lemonade.
And now the big boss from New York had phoned to make an appointment. Would Ivor mind driving to New York as there was a relatively serious matter that needed to be discussed. It was a personal matter. Ivor knew it was about his drinking. He just did.
All the way to New York in the car Ivor practised what he’d say. Yes, he could not deny it. Yes, he had imbibed too heartedly. Yes, it was his fault. Yes, it wouldn’t happen again. Yes, he was prepared to get help if needed, although he didn’t regard himself as an alcoholic as such. No, he didn’t believe he was in denial. Yes, sir, I agree with whatever you say.
The time had come for the interview. Ivor’s hands were sweaty. He’d forgotten everything he’d rehearsed in the car.
They were opening new offices in Baltimore, said the boss. Would he be interested in being in charge? It would mean uprooting to another city. It would mean a $70,000 annual pay increase.
Ivor went weak in the knees. Yes, he said. Yes, sir. Whatever you say.
Great, said the head sherang* reaching below his desk and pulling out a bottle of whiskey. Shall we celebrate?
* Since writing this I’ve learnt that the phrase “head sherang” is not well-known outside New Zealand and Australia. It simply means boss – the one way at the top. One probably wouldn’t usually refer to the manager of a local K-Mart store as the “head sherang”; K-Mart’s head sherang would be the person overall in charge of the entire chain.
Listen the story being read HERE!
Do you know Bruce I have never heard that expression before either………. it must be peculiar to particular areas of the country!
I think your head sherang is testing him and Ivor would do well to remember his promise to himself – of course he won’t and it will all end in tears…… 🙂
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Gosh – I was going to say it might not be a South Island word, but you grew up in the North Island. I don’t know why I should know it! You’ll probably hear it everywhere now.
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There is obviously a yawning gap in my colloquial education – I’m not as with it as I supposed! I’ll let you know if I hear it again!
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You probably went to the right finishing school!
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I know ‘the whole shebang’ which sounds similar and may be related….?
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Cynthia cottoned onto “shebang” as well! (Which just goes to show how world-wide one finds intelligence)! I see where “shebang” is a word of possible North American origin which in turn stems from French.
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I’m not that intelligent Bruce, the etymology had not occurred to me!
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Google (like salt when cooking) is something one uses when no one else is looking.
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Ahhh – see I told you I wasn’t so clever 🙂
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Well – I didn’t know when Michaelmas Day was! So there!
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lol. Looks like your autocorrect’s never heard of the term either. Mine insisted on “she rang”.
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My autocorrect is a pain in the proverbial…
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Guess the head sherang doesn’t have a drinking problem either…
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Yes – I guess so! Of course whiskey these days is far too expensive and no one drinks and drives – so I guess they went off home and had lonely drinks there…
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The only problem is when the bottle’s empty.
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We seem to be doing quite a bit of drinking on this blog in the last few days!
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🍻 Woo Hoo! 🍺🍷🍹🍸🍶🍼
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Chairs! I mean cheers… hic!
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💺💺💺 Sorry. Only chairs I found were in this aeroplane ✈️
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Airplane! You must be dwunk!
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Nah, if I was drunk I’d be taking off my 👞👠👖👕👙👓👗👢👔🎽
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WOW man – I thunk it’s time you got dwunk!!!!
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This reminds me of the TV show “Mad Men” about an advertising firm in 1960’s New York. Everybody drinks at the office, just to celebrate that everybody’s drinking at the office! And smoking and womanizing anything to climb the corporate ladder. So I’m certain Ivor accepts that whiskey. What I’m not certain about is that sherang. Definitely a made up word down under. Up here we say “exec” or “archon”.
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Sounds like “Mad Men” was definitely a true-to-life 1960s thing. Don’t know how Sherang would’ve made it here as apparently it’s derived from an Anglo-Indian word for boatswain. Then again, we are riddled with towns with Indian names – Miramar, Khandallah, Coromandel, Cashmere, Coonoor, Kirwee, Bombay; even Napier, Hastings and Clive are towns named after military people in India – so I guess sherang crept in that way!
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You can definitely get addicted to Mad Men on Netflix. The series is over now so you can binge watch entire seasons at a time.
Sherang’s origin sounds plausible. Probably a boatswain on a military ship got stranded many moons ago and started the whole thing.
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They THINK a Spanish ship may have wrecked on the shore many centuries ago (long before the arrival of the chronicled Europeans) as they possess a Spanish ship’s bell from a very long way back, and the black-skinned people of the area have red hair! So we might be related – presuming you have some Spanish blood!
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Before looking at Oscar’s answer to your suggestion that you and he might be related, all I can say is “That’s a scary thought.”
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We’re definitely brothers; it’s just a question of finding out if we are related!
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Here in the US I hear them say “brothahs by anothah mothah”……
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And sisters – as the song goes – are doing it for themselves…
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Don’t believe every song you hear….
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Hmmm. Dunno. I had a full exchange transfusion as an infant!
Plascencia is a Spanish surname.
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Let’s hope they pumped a bit of Royal blood into you. That might account for why you’re so classy!
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LOL. I pray not. The only Royal blood would’ve been Mayan.
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It would be so exotic to have some Mayan blood (I mean genes). I’m all English/Irish. Hopefully a bit of Viking leapt over a wall somewhere way back…
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From the looks of your Gravatar, that Viking found himself a goat farm on the other side of that wall. 🐏🐐🐑
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You not KID-ding!
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WHAT HAPPENED NEXT….
…then the whiskey imbibing sherang
(a kind of New Zealander slang)
together with Ivor
the upcoming striver
swilled down the entire shebang!
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I feel the entire shebang
About using the word “sherang”
Is really a cover-up
By Americans who live-it-up
And use the expression “Oh dang!”
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My first line meant to say “sherang” but my dang auto-correct changed it behind my back!
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I had already corrected it!
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There is clearly a wide gap in my vocabulary, which you have now filled. Hope the two of them got on a toot!
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See – I had to google toot!
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I think the sherang is really the big Kahuna. OMG. Autocorrect turned it into she rang!!!! But I’m fixing before I send. It may not be rabbits that are spawn of Satan, but autocorrect….
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It’s when autocorrect change things into meaningless juggernautical contrivances when our don’t living may be not any sense.
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Ah, Bruce. I’ve typed some autocorrect nonsense myself…
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Any respeltication is preferential to verbage changling.
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🙂
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Was it ‘She who must be obeyed’ who rang?
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As a cryptic cross-worder one would have hoped that sherang might have appeared at some stage in the more notable publications.
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Lovely
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I’ve heard Sherang!! Don’t think I have ever used it …. yet…. Loved the story and the conversations… thanks!
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