My "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"
To start, I awoke this morning from a not very restful night's sleep. Then, not ten minutes after I stepped out of the shower this afternoon, a storm hit, and we lost power. So, I had to fumble in my closet for something not so wrinkled to wear to work. I dressed, pulled back the curtains to illuminate the room enough to brush a little make-up on my face, grabbed my hair dryer and a brush, and left for work. On the way, I encountered at least two major intersections without lights. I pulled into the parking lot with only a couple minutes to spare before the start of my shift. Unfortunately, the throughway in front of the building was blocked by no less than three cars and one enormous truck. I had to wait in line with about four other cars to pull through into parking spaces. The guy in front of me was too impatient to wait, though, and decided to back up around me and the other cars behind me, and exit the parking lot the wrong way. He came within inches of hitting our new car and that was with me laying down the horn to let him know what a dumbass he was being.
I finally manage to park and walk into the door a minute late. Then, I have to go into the bathroom, dry my hair and brush it. I head up to the circulation desk where I complain to my supervisor about the dangerous nature of our parking lot. He agrees to mention it to our manager. I immediately realize that yet again the circulation staff is behind schedule with the work load, and that yet again, it's going to be a long evening of playing catch-up. Then, as if I'm not in a bad enough mood as it is, the second patron I wait on is a lady who walks into the building holding a glass of what looked like iced tea. She proceeds to go all "big, bad wolf" on me when I kindly explain to her that she cannot walk into the stacks with an open beverage container and her cup will have to stay at the desk with me.
Now, that I'm really in full-on bitch mode, one of my co-workers makes a small criticism about my use of notes to distinguish between new accounts and new cards issued. This seems like a minor and trivial complaint to me, and I'm ready to let it roll off my back after I suggest she write our supervisor an email about the issue and ask him to evaluate our procedure; but she won't let it drop. So, I open my big mouth and proceed to insert my foot and leg up to the knee into it. It's obvious from the moment I speak that I've upset her and hurt her feelings. Unfortunately, I have no opportunity to apologize to her before she leaves for the day as we are bombarded by patrons. I decide to confess my blunder to my supervisor who says he understands me being a bit snippish after the day I'd had and tries to reassure me it will all blow over. I've decided to write her a nice apology note and leave it in her mailbox just to smooth things over. I'm feeling a teensy bit guilty about the whole mess and hoping I haven't caused a permanent riff in our working relationship. She's a terribly nice lady, very smart and good-natured. She just happened to catch me on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
I finally manage to park and walk into the door a minute late. Then, I have to go into the bathroom, dry my hair and brush it. I head up to the circulation desk where I complain to my supervisor about the dangerous nature of our parking lot. He agrees to mention it to our manager. I immediately realize that yet again the circulation staff is behind schedule with the work load, and that yet again, it's going to be a long evening of playing catch-up. Then, as if I'm not in a bad enough mood as it is, the second patron I wait on is a lady who walks into the building holding a glass of what looked like iced tea. She proceeds to go all "big, bad wolf" on me when I kindly explain to her that she cannot walk into the stacks with an open beverage container and her cup will have to stay at the desk with me.
Now, that I'm really in full-on bitch mode, one of my co-workers makes a small criticism about my use of notes to distinguish between new accounts and new cards issued. This seems like a minor and trivial complaint to me, and I'm ready to let it roll off my back after I suggest she write our supervisor an email about the issue and ask him to evaluate our procedure; but she won't let it drop. So, I open my big mouth and proceed to insert my foot and leg up to the knee into it. It's obvious from the moment I speak that I've upset her and hurt her feelings. Unfortunately, I have no opportunity to apologize to her before she leaves for the day as we are bombarded by patrons. I decide to confess my blunder to my supervisor who says he understands me being a bit snippish after the day I'd had and tries to reassure me it will all blow over. I've decided to write her a nice apology note and leave it in her mailbox just to smooth things over. I'm feeling a teensy bit guilty about the whole mess and hoping I haven't caused a permanent riff in our working relationship. She's a terribly nice lady, very smart and good-natured. She just happened to catch me on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.