The Local Government Bucket List
35 things to do before you leave local government
Let’s face it, nothing ever last forever. For some of us unfortunately the end is more nigh than for others, but whether you have been a stalwart of local government circles for 30 years or if you’re just coming up to the end of your first six month tour of duty, there are a number of things we recommend you do before your time runs out.
Some of these things are inspirational, some are a little hard to achieve and some are just somewhat amusing. Keep this handy list in the bottom of your drawer and schedule in as many as you can before you open the dreaded P45 or receive the Golden Carriage Clock of doom.
- Send a compromising e-mail from a colleagues account
- Storm out of a meeting early
- Shout down the phone at someone whilst in an open-plan office
- Hide song lyrics in a significant report or strategy draft
- Take your tie off/unclip your hair mid PowerPoint presentation
- Help a colleague complete their work without expecting or asking for anything in return
- Teach someone around you a new skill
- Ask a stupid question (odds are it’s not that stupid after all)
- Speak up when you have a good idea
- Ask for a raise
- Get yourself featured in your internal magazine/newsletter
- Write a poem and hide it on the shared drive where someone might find it
- Go through a day in the office without sending a single e-mail (or updating Yammer)
- Sing a song in an open plan office
- Organise and attend a social event and relax
- Write a guest blog post for your favourite blog
- Resign via an all-user e-mail
- Write an anonymous love note and leave it on a random person’s desk one night
- Come into work in jeans and a t-shirt
- Come into work in a three piece suit/formal gown
- Buy doughnuts for everyone on your floor
- Sneak into work without using your security pass
- Say sorry in the lift, despite having done nothing
- During a meeting speak in the third person without explaining yourself
- Sneak onto a colleagues machine and set up auto-correct to misspell random common words
- Call the IT support desk and ask them how you can help them, refusing to hang up until you’ve found something
- Leave a nice present for the cleaners to say ‘thank you’
- Sit in on a meeting you haven’t been invited to
- Take part in a Guardian Local Government Network Live Chat
- Give your boss a genuine and honest compliment when they don’t expect it
- Drink more than you should at lunch time
- Be someone’s mentor
- Bunk off for the afternoon
- Shout out ‘Yes – I’ve won!!!’ when you receive your payslip
- Complete Bingo
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We Love Local Government 
May 15, 2012 at 6:57 am
36. Provide live commentary during a Council meeting from the public seating area.
37. Organise a Broadway-themed flashmob in the main reception.
38. Answer every phonecall with the name of another department or authority.
39. Warn your colleagues how different things are going to be when you come back as a councillor.
40. Shake hands with everyone in the office and tell them how much you’ve enjoyed working with them, even if you’ve never met them. Say that you hope they’re coming to the pub later for your leaving drinks. This could work out well for you!
May 15, 2012 at 9:24 am
41. Organise a leaving drinks do and don’t turn up.
42. Like 40 but instead of shaking hands, hug everyone, very hard. Then walk into the Chief Exec’s office and hug them, saying through tears, ‘Its you I’m going to miss the most.’ This works best if you’ve never met them.
43. Tell a Councillor you work with that you are actually a party member of the party their not in.
44. When leaving, leave as if you have just won the Premiership, shouting, ‘Hell yha!’
May 15, 2012 at 1:40 pm
What, no “leave a kipper behind the radiator”?
May 15, 2012 at 4:39 pm
45. Be honest with your manager about what has stopped you from doing a good job
46. Love the citizen/customer and stop loving local government.
May 16, 2012 at 8:08 pm
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