Work, and the tossers I work with (part 1 of an infinite series)

I'm currently working as an administrator in the IT department of the NHS. Which is as exciting as it sounds. I'm grossly overqualified, underpaid and SERIOUSLY frustrated. (Reasons why I'm stuck in this mess to follow...). Approximately 80% of my colleagues are male. The remaining 20% of females tend to occupy similarly menial roles such as mine. This is depressing enough in itself, without the fact that some, repeat, SOME, of the men are old-skool - in the worst possible ways. I'm talking casual sexism, homophobia, racism, ageism - you name it, they're into it. It's hard to tell how much of the shite that spews forth from their gullets comprises actual belief and hatred, and how much is blokey banter. Either way, it leaves me feeling utterly powerless, isolated, depressed, desperate and, on occasion, psychotic. Anyone who's worked in a similar role, in a similar environment knows how the relentless torrent of propaganda can seriously wear you down...

Today, for example, we've been interviewing temps for posts as stimulating as mine. Poor bastards. I wanna run at them, screaming, "You don't know what yr doing, you don't know what yr doing!", whilst beating their chests - then mine - shortly before scooping up the arrogant, smug little fuck whom we're seriously expected to respect as our Project Manager*, climbing to the roof of the building, Manager in outstretched palm, roaring, before throwing his feeble body to the ground...

... apologies - I digress. Where were we? Interviewing temps... this involves my male colleagues giving potential co-workers marks out of ten based on whether they're "fit" or not. As you'd expect, the qualities that constitute their definition of "fit" are limited in the extreme. One of the Project Managers sitting in front of me actually moved seats to the desk behind me so he "could get a proper look". Discretion is not a familiar concept to these men, so I'm forced to stare intently at my screen and feign complete ignorance, whilst analyses of women's arses fly around me.

Sigh.

* "Project Manager"?! See? I've been completely indoctrinated. In a non-work capacity, I'm still writing his job title in capital letters. HE DOESN'T DESERVE CAPITAL LETTERS!