When the day starts inauspiciously...
You knew it was going to be a weird day when the phone rang at 6:15 AM and it was my mother. I was sort of awake but unaware that she'd left. First I had the panic of, oh God, why is the phone ringing at this time of day, then when I saw the Caller ID and it had mom's name on it, the confusion of, why is she calling from inside the house? Well, she was actually in North Aurora at the time, and several sensors were going off (check engine light, which has been on for a while, plus her tire pressure sensor), and she was wondering, what should I do? It was a chillier than usual night here, so dad and I both figured that could be part of the tire light. I suggested maybe driving around some more to warm up her car and her tires, and we were both like, it's up to you. Dad told her, I can't figure out what's going on from here. We didn't know what her plans were when we hung up the phone.
At 7:30, I'm just coming downstairs for breakfast when the phone rings again. It's mom asking me to open the garage door. She'd gone straight to the dealership--just a couple miles from where she was at the Speedway on Randall--waited for them to open, having made an appointment online, and came back with a free loaner. She'd mentioned it had crank windows, so I started joking that, yeah, it's free because you have to pedal it. Actually, it was a special for the month of October--free loaners for people with appointments, something like that. She'd just gotten a flier yesterday. She ended up using half a sick day today (last one!) and went in to work for a few hours since she did have the loaner. She was trying to get herself sorted in the laundry room upon getting back to the house this morning when she started exclaiming that her phone was ringing, and I thought she said Kia; her dealership also has a Kia dealership in the auto mall, so I thought it was the dealer calling. No; she's said Maria, as in her friend, and she was like, why is Maria calling me? Then she wondered if she accidentally dialed her friend and sent her a quick text. (Mom was all, how do I answer this?!? Considering it wasn't ringing or buzzing at the time...you can't. Just wait and see if there's a voicemail.) There was in fact a voicemail, her friend being concerned and saying she'd been in the shower and her husband hadn't gotten to the phone in time. Mom then sent two more texts apologizing, since she has no idea how she'd called her friend (mom is no good with computer...or phone), and also asking how her shower went. Maria did reply by saying, she was very clean. :) Okay, well, glad that's over.
This did set the tone for my day at work, one where I couldn't get anything done, then right around lunchtime there was a bit of a fire we'd had to put out, much to the chagrin of the manager. Another person hadn't bothered to properly check in with a client, so that several weeks later, the client now had to call to go, uh, what's going on with this time-sensitive thing, and I'm on the phone with him while the manager is talking to me and I'm like, okay, one of you has to stop so I can relay the message from the other....and ultimately the manager had sent the client an email, copying that particular coworker, to say there would have to be an alternate route to go about something. That email was sent three weeks ago and had the client known, the situation would likely be over. Except sometimes our emails get blocked by the client's server or whatever, so he never got it, and the coworker never properly followed up despite being told in that very email what was going on, so that made the manager extra cranky and led to several phone calls to make the coworker follow up with the client, who apparently was not as bothered as one might expect, supposedly? Dunno. The client's a little hard to figure out, high strung yet chill at the same time, which is quite the dichotomy. Anyway, hopefully it'll be okay, because we've been working with him for a number of years and would like to keep his business. And of course my boss was out visiting his clients and driving from hither to yon and back again. So many phone calls while he's on the road, and he pretty much only wants to talk to me, meaning I have to stop what I'm doing to talk to him, then do his bidding, basically, all while trying to get my own work done.
AND, he'd had a talk with drama mama yesterday, since she was looking to revise her schedule. Remember, she was hired to work Monday through Thursday in the afternoons and evenings. She is now looking to work Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. He said, well, I'd like you to work Wednesday and Thursday. She said, oh, I can't work on Thursdays. ...Since when? Before she was sick this most recent time, that's when she'd been coming in. She then said, well, I can work Mondays. That's when he had to counter, well, you haven't been coming in on Mondays, so I've hired someone to work Mondays and Tuesdays. However, when it came to Saturdays, he's actually taking her up on the offer, as it means she can cover the lunch shifts for a few hours so he doesn't have to. I broke this to my young coworker when she got back from her break; I don't think she's thrilled at the idea, but she can appreciate our boss not having to work a sixth day so she thought that was fair. (She's one of the regular Saturday workers.) So, okay, the experiment continues.
At 7:30, I'm just coming downstairs for breakfast when the phone rings again. It's mom asking me to open the garage door. She'd gone straight to the dealership--just a couple miles from where she was at the Speedway on Randall--waited for them to open, having made an appointment online, and came back with a free loaner. She'd mentioned it had crank windows, so I started joking that, yeah, it's free because you have to pedal it. Actually, it was a special for the month of October--free loaners for people with appointments, something like that. She'd just gotten a flier yesterday. She ended up using half a sick day today (last one!) and went in to work for a few hours since she did have the loaner. She was trying to get herself sorted in the laundry room upon getting back to the house this morning when she started exclaiming that her phone was ringing, and I thought she said Kia; her dealership also has a Kia dealership in the auto mall, so I thought it was the dealer calling. No; she's said Maria, as in her friend, and she was like, why is Maria calling me? Then she wondered if she accidentally dialed her friend and sent her a quick text. (Mom was all, how do I answer this?!? Considering it wasn't ringing or buzzing at the time...you can't. Just wait and see if there's a voicemail.) There was in fact a voicemail, her friend being concerned and saying she'd been in the shower and her husband hadn't gotten to the phone in time. Mom then sent two more texts apologizing, since she has no idea how she'd called her friend (mom is no good with computer...or phone), and also asking how her shower went. Maria did reply by saying, she was very clean. :) Okay, well, glad that's over.
This did set the tone for my day at work, one where I couldn't get anything done, then right around lunchtime there was a bit of a fire we'd had to put out, much to the chagrin of the manager. Another person hadn't bothered to properly check in with a client, so that several weeks later, the client now had to call to go, uh, what's going on with this time-sensitive thing, and I'm on the phone with him while the manager is talking to me and I'm like, okay, one of you has to stop so I can relay the message from the other....and ultimately the manager had sent the client an email, copying that particular coworker, to say there would have to be an alternate route to go about something. That email was sent three weeks ago and had the client known, the situation would likely be over. Except sometimes our emails get blocked by the client's server or whatever, so he never got it, and the coworker never properly followed up despite being told in that very email what was going on, so that made the manager extra cranky and led to several phone calls to make the coworker follow up with the client, who apparently was not as bothered as one might expect, supposedly? Dunno. The client's a little hard to figure out, high strung yet chill at the same time, which is quite the dichotomy. Anyway, hopefully it'll be okay, because we've been working with him for a number of years and would like to keep his business. And of course my boss was out visiting his clients and driving from hither to yon and back again. So many phone calls while he's on the road, and he pretty much only wants to talk to me, meaning I have to stop what I'm doing to talk to him, then do his bidding, basically, all while trying to get my own work done.
AND, he'd had a talk with drama mama yesterday, since she was looking to revise her schedule. Remember, she was hired to work Monday through Thursday in the afternoons and evenings. She is now looking to work Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. He said, well, I'd like you to work Wednesday and Thursday. She said, oh, I can't work on Thursdays. ...Since when? Before she was sick this most recent time, that's when she'd been coming in. She then said, well, I can work Mondays. That's when he had to counter, well, you haven't been coming in on Mondays, so I've hired someone to work Mondays and Tuesdays. However, when it came to Saturdays, he's actually taking her up on the offer, as it means she can cover the lunch shifts for a few hours so he doesn't have to. I broke this to my young coworker when she got back from her break; I don't think she's thrilled at the idea, but she can appreciate our boss not having to work a sixth day so she thought that was fair. (She's one of the regular Saturday workers.) So, okay, the experiment continues.