Just another manic Thursday
We're getting to the busiest part of the year at work. Things will really pick up in the next week or so, in part because of the sheer number of work things coming up. I needed to figure out when things are, and what we need to bring to them (or drop off beforehand in some cases), and my plan first thing today was to go through my emails and create a calendar of sorts so I know what some of our deadlines are. I'm the main person who gets some of this stuff ready, and it's multiple sets of the same thing, and it's time-consuming and stuff's gotta get done.
Yeah, I didn't get to do that until after 4, an hour after my shift technically was over. Goody.
Pretty much as soon as I walked in, my boss came up to me and said, I forwarded you some emails from a client. Oh, okay. The part that either he didn't say or that I didn't hear was that he wanted to take the items mentioned in the email to the client *today*, like when he left in five minutes (not that that happened), and why was I standing around? ...Because it's 9:02 AM and I'm still getting my bearings for the day? So now I'm having to chase down certain things, and the manager is working on items from another email, and we managed to get it done, but still. Grr. Not how I expected my morning to start. Thankfully this is a longtime client and we like him, so we're happy to do it, but yeah...a little extra notice is helpful. Plus, in the process, I'd pulled something for him that I'd set aside for his colleagues (part of the items needed for the upcoming work things...they're all sort of related), so now I'm going to have to go digging for more stuff. Yay.
At 10 AM, the manager attended a webinar, which lasted over an hour. Naturally that was the point in time where people converged on my place of business, and lucky for me BBC happened to wander up by me and was able to help out (several things were actually related to the special projects he works on, so his timing was excellent, actually), but after the whirlwind dispersed, it was like...where am I? What was I doing? This was pretty much the feeling I had all day. It was bad enough that my normal weekly task I do on Thursdays, I ended up having to have YC do it because I just had piles and piles of things to do and I couldn't catch up, it seemed.
And to think we're not truly into the busy season yet. So help me.
There was a humorous moment with some clients; my boss asked me to email the one cluster he was visiting, saying he was only going to certain locations (out of six total) to deliver items; he'd only stop by if requested. Nobody did, but I got a bounceback from an address I've been using for years now. What's this, did somebody move on? I hadn't heard that this person was no longer with her company. Odd. I thought to check the business website, which has a staff directory, and she was still listed with the email address I'd been using. She works in a partnership with someone, so I sent a separate email to the two of them. The partner replied, yeah, after getting married years ago, she's *finally* legally changed her name, and her email changed as well; here it is. He'd also copied her on the email. I replied and copied some of my coworkers so they'd be aware, and I ended it by saying, congrats on finally being legal! She replied, thanks, guys! Ha. She's been referred to as Ms. Maidenname, Mrs. Marriedname, Mrs. Maidenname-Marriedname, just any and every combination. I think she's cool with all of them, which could explain why she never officially changed it. Hey, it's her prerogative. Just so long as we all know who we're talking about, it's cool.
Anyway, I finally clocked out about quarter to five, and at that point my retired former coworker was in to rent a room, so I got to talk to him for a bit. I rarely get to see him anymore so that was nice. I got to tell him my pun from the weekend, about how most of the piers on Geneva Lake are white, save for one tan one. They're not sure why it's not white but we were told, it hasn't yet succumbed to...pier pressure. (He groaned appropriately at that. Remember, this was my coworker who was a master at puns.)
I still couldn't go right home. Homecoming is maybe six weeks away, meaning I'd better get the concert tickets now, and I managed to snag a moment early on in my day (before everything hit the fan) to check when the box office was open, since in the past it's been closed certain days or only open until certain times, kind of squirrelly. Phew, it's open Monday-Friday from 10-6. So, even though I didn't physically leave work until after 5 PM, all was cool. No choir loft this year! It's my reunion year and Avery and I have already discussed the reunion reception, an I'll-go-if-you-go deal. I just need to send in my paperwork, and I've been lazy about doing that, but at least I have the concert tickets.
Yeah, I didn't get to do that until after 4, an hour after my shift technically was over. Goody.
Pretty much as soon as I walked in, my boss came up to me and said, I forwarded you some emails from a client. Oh, okay. The part that either he didn't say or that I didn't hear was that he wanted to take the items mentioned in the email to the client *today*, like when he left in five minutes (not that that happened), and why was I standing around? ...Because it's 9:02 AM and I'm still getting my bearings for the day? So now I'm having to chase down certain things, and the manager is working on items from another email, and we managed to get it done, but still. Grr. Not how I expected my morning to start. Thankfully this is a longtime client and we like him, so we're happy to do it, but yeah...a little extra notice is helpful. Plus, in the process, I'd pulled something for him that I'd set aside for his colleagues (part of the items needed for the upcoming work things...they're all sort of related), so now I'm going to have to go digging for more stuff. Yay.
At 10 AM, the manager attended a webinar, which lasted over an hour. Naturally that was the point in time where people converged on my place of business, and lucky for me BBC happened to wander up by me and was able to help out (several things were actually related to the special projects he works on, so his timing was excellent, actually), but after the whirlwind dispersed, it was like...where am I? What was I doing? This was pretty much the feeling I had all day. It was bad enough that my normal weekly task I do on Thursdays, I ended up having to have YC do it because I just had piles and piles of things to do and I couldn't catch up, it seemed.
And to think we're not truly into the busy season yet. So help me.
There was a humorous moment with some clients; my boss asked me to email the one cluster he was visiting, saying he was only going to certain locations (out of six total) to deliver items; he'd only stop by if requested. Nobody did, but I got a bounceback from an address I've been using for years now. What's this, did somebody move on? I hadn't heard that this person was no longer with her company. Odd. I thought to check the business website, which has a staff directory, and she was still listed with the email address I'd been using. She works in a partnership with someone, so I sent a separate email to the two of them. The partner replied, yeah, after getting married years ago, she's *finally* legally changed her name, and her email changed as well; here it is. He'd also copied her on the email. I replied and copied some of my coworkers so they'd be aware, and I ended it by saying, congrats on finally being legal! She replied, thanks, guys! Ha. She's been referred to as Ms. Maidenname, Mrs. Marriedname, Mrs. Maidenname-Marriedname, just any and every combination. I think she's cool with all of them, which could explain why she never officially changed it. Hey, it's her prerogative. Just so long as we all know who we're talking about, it's cool.
Anyway, I finally clocked out about quarter to five, and at that point my retired former coworker was in to rent a room, so I got to talk to him for a bit. I rarely get to see him anymore so that was nice. I got to tell him my pun from the weekend, about how most of the piers on Geneva Lake are white, save for one tan one. They're not sure why it's not white but we were told, it hasn't yet succumbed to...pier pressure. (He groaned appropriately at that. Remember, this was my coworker who was a master at puns.)
I still couldn't go right home. Homecoming is maybe six weeks away, meaning I'd better get the concert tickets now, and I managed to snag a moment early on in my day (before everything hit the fan) to check when the box office was open, since in the past it's been closed certain days or only open until certain times, kind of squirrelly. Phew, it's open Monday-Friday from 10-6. So, even though I didn't physically leave work until after 5 PM, all was cool. No choir loft this year! It's my reunion year and Avery and I have already discussed the reunion reception, an I'll-go-if-you-go deal. I just need to send in my paperwork, and I've been lazy about doing that, but at least I have the concert tickets.