Au revoir and thanks

[Lillabet]

This isn't a proper question. But the new chat thread isn't up yet. I won't be around Answer Bank for quite some time after tomorrow so just wanted to say goodbye for now and thanks to everyone I've enjoyed debating with over the past few months.

Please don't report this or remove it...

[jno]

you'd need more than the Official Secrets Act behind you to run anything on AB, you need stun guns and stuff. My guess is Lillabet will be doing something diplomatic, as she is very diplomatic indeed. Tut, and just after I'd nominated her for Best In Show on AB too.

[ludwig]

'Oh won't you stay-yay-yay, just a Lillabet longer..'

Don't go!, this site desparately needs sensible people!

[SASHAGREEN]

bye lillabet! have fun with your new job! we'll keep our eye's out for you.@------->-------------

[CT]

Good luck with the new job. Come and visit us soon.

[Dark Angel]

Best wishes Lillabet. Sorry to lose you, but hope you will be back soon.

[Lillabet]

Thanks again for your messages. Nice to know I was noticed! I'll miss you all too. I've chatted (sorry discussed and debated) with some of you more than some people in my current office. While there are people on this site - though none on this thread - that I am glad are safely off in cyberspace there are others I think I'd like lots in real life.

As for the job guesses. No the building doesn't look like a doughnut. Also my new job title is not 'spy' (though I would be very overexcited if that were the case) nor does it involve going to work for AB. Thankfully. I do feel sorry for the poor ed at times...try not to lead him / her into a nervous breakdown before I get back...

[jno]

How do you feel about life under the Official Secrets Act? Does this mean a lifetime of fudging and dissembling when family and friends ask what you do? I can understand it in wartime, but it sometimes seems a bit of an imposition on employees at other times unless you really are undercover in Kyrgyzstan or something.

[Lillabet]

I think it is odd and possibly unnecessary. I can't see that knowing what I do would in any way shape or form compromise national security.

Having said that I am perfectly happy to sign it in return for the job. Friends and family will just be told that I work as a civil servant and then told that I can't say what I do but I'm not a spy. Hopefully that will be enough.

The money is Ok but not fantastic by any stretch however I really loved my degree and my MA (Criminology) and doing my PhD but I think I'm a bit too practical to be a good academic. Sitting alone in libraries gets a little dull for me. Given my areas of interest the only way to work in an applied field is to take a state based job. So I've known that this type of silliness would happen at some point.

I think that there is also an element of concern for my safety in fudging the issue. Not a big concern but in the same way that some off duty police officers might think twice before announcing what they do when in certain situations.

I am so making this sound more exciting than it deserves to...

[jno]

will surely feel odd not being able to tell your partner, if any, what you do for a living - normally the only people who say they can't talk about work are fantasists who want you to think they're SAS or similar... Hopefully you'll get enough out of it to make it worth while fitting into the government cult of secrecy... good luck!

[Lillabet]

Thanks, I've nearly cleared my desk now and so will be signing off.

You are right it is odd not to be able to tell people precisely what I do. But my boyfriend knows. He isn't meant to but I showed him the advertisement and he read through my application to spell check it. It actually wasn't until I was at the interview that I was told even the job title was protected. It was a bit late then. They should have mentioned it on the form really.

At the risk of sounding cheesy it is something I can do that could make a difference and I've always wanted to do something constructive.

Also a lot of my friends are academics. They are often terribly vague about their work and have all sorts of confidentiality agreements about ongoing research. Other friends and the boyfriend are lawyers and although you know the job title they pretty much can't talk about any cases either - so I should fit right in. We'll just all talk about non work stuff...

Take care and best of luck. Hopefully speak again at some point

Lillabet xx