Ahira's Hangar

Sorry you have to put up with all that crap, duchess.

I can't say I've ever rubbed shoulders with a poisonous co-worker. I deal mainly with the receptionist, whom I get along well with, and with the guys who come in for the night shift. A couple of the younger guys lack the motivation to do as good a job as I would like, which is the source of my particular frustration. But I don't dread being around them.

Wow, Duchess. Sounds like work is a boatload of fun for you....

I don't really have any toxic co-workers right now -- a nice plus of working here. When I first started here, tho, I sat next to a woman whose complaints and paranoia nearly drove me round the bend. And then too, every time something went wrong for her on the computer, she would say, "Whoopsy-daisy." She was pretty twitchy so she would jiggle the mouse a lot, and randomly click on stuff, and then her display would go all wonky and she couldn't figure out why.... So anyhow she would say "whoopsy-daisy" a fair amount -- enough that I started describing her at home as "Mrs. Whoopsy-daisy", which is how my kids *still* know her.

Anyway, she was a piece of work. Most of it I just tuned out, but the paranoid comments, etc., brought out the Sagittarius in me -- I found myself being almost militantly upbeat, just to try to get her to think on a more positive track (oh, futile attempt!).

To give you an idea of what I was up against, here's the most outrageous thing I ever heard her say. She mentioned that she had been at the grocery store the day before and saw a man with a beautiful little baby sitting in the cart, just the sweetest little thing. "And I thought to myself," she said, "'that's just the kind of baby somebody would steal.'"



I was speechless for a moment. And then I said something along the lines of, "Now there's something that would *never* cross my mind."

And then she went on to talk about TV shows yada yada, and her daughter's boyfriend the cop yada yada, and that was probably when I gave up trying to get her to see the bright side of *any*thing. Clearly she liked her world just fine, limited and restricted and paranoid as it was. She finally got transferred and went to work for another attorney in the firm.

Anyway, dunno if that story helps you, Duchess. Probably not. Maybe you could sort of make a mantra for yourself when this person tries to corner you: "It's just who she is. I don't have to go there with her. Just smile and nod."

Yeah, the smile-and-nod approach is how I'd go about it, too. Really no point in trying to have a rational discussion with a paranoid person - not unless I was a trained psychologist/psychiatrist. But I don't know how I would keep my patience if the person kept going on and on.

We have been having a house cleaning orgy all weekend. The public areas (ie non bedroom) areas of the house all look great, but the dust is starting to get to me. I am abotu to take a walk to clear out my lungs.

And it is really nice having so much help with the housework for a change. My older son in particular is a gift from God this weekend.

The most interesting thing I've done so far today is to attempt to sleep in. I took a week of vacation this week. I remembered to turn off the alarm on the bedside clock. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off my backup alarm on my phone. Got up, fed the cat, then tried going back to sleep -- didn't work. Ah well, I can take a nap later if I need one....

I'm planning to clean the house this afternoon. Ugh.

Yesterday I bought some cleaning stuff to do my apartment as well. I admit it, that Verminators show on Discovery has made me just a bit paranoid. I'm also going to get an air purifier.

Remind me to never watch that show!

Hope your vacation week was peaceful and restful, Ali!

Yesterday my husband's truck was down, so he asked if he could borrow my Jeep. I said sure, as long as he or my older son could take me to work and bring me home from work. Well, when he took me to work he looked exhausted, so I expressed concern about his ability to pick me up. He said he would keep his cell phone with him to wake him up. So late last night at work, when a lady I work with offered me a ride home, I started to try to call his cell. No answer. As the night went on, I kept trying to call his cell once an hour or so. No answer. I had to turn the lady's offer down, as I couldn't get a hold of him. My shift ends, no husband, no ride home, still not anwsering his phone. I finally started calling my children's cell phones about fifteen minutes after midnight - and my husband answered. He had fallen asleep fully clothed on the floor watching television and had heard Bigred's cell phone ringing, but not his own.

So he finally shows up to pick me up, forty minutes late, and just as a skunk had come out of the bushes and was heading my way up the hospital driveway. When it saw the Jeep coming up the driveway, it ran like heck back into the bushes.

It was chilly - a bit above freezing - so I was cold, even though I had on a coat and gloves.

He was so tired looking I asked if I could drive, and I headed right to the IHOP, which is open overnight on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It is the only IHOP I know in this area, and I was really really happy when it opened up a few months ago just a few miles up the road.

So I had cup after cup of hot chocolate, wrapping my hands around the mugs to get them warm. I also had some pancakes, and bought my husband some breakfast, too, and he looked like he felt a lot better after he had some caffeine and some food.

So it was a few minutes short of 2AM and we are just pulling back onto the road to head home, and my cell phone started ringing off the hook.

It was my older son, freaking out because he had woken up (we have taken turns being sick all week, and it was his turn this time) and his parents were not in the house, the lights were on, and the television was still on.

So even when your child is two weeks short of turning twenty, you are still not allowed to have a private life.

And that has how my day began.

Coming up:
baking a cake for Halloween
baking some cookies for Halloween
waking up my older son so we can drive to Saline and bring back his father's truck (and I get to pay the $500 for the repairs to get it back )
handing out candy to any trick or treaters (that part I will love- I adore seeing little kids in their cosumes, so cute )
and we have been talking about going out for Arabic or Indian food tonight
trying to find the time to finish up Zelazny's Lord of Light
watching Nightmare Before Christmas

Holy pumpkin pie, duchess, that's quite a day! Um, so your husband couldn't feed himself or what?

And what's an IHOP? I live a sheltered existence, so I don't know these things.

Hope you have a great time tonight! I miss my days back home when I handed out goodies to trick-or-treaters. My apartment doesn't do that sort of thing.

Will be watching Psycho or some other movie for Halloween.

As I just said on the Watch, Halloween isn't really an event here, with a few recent exceptions. Apart from anything else, it'd probably be dangerous.

--A

Well, he can usually feed himself, but he was really out of it last night, until he ate the food and drank the hot chocolate.

IHOP = International House of Pancakes

Beofre they opened, the only thing open all night was Denny's, and the food there leaves a lot to be desired. So IHOP is better - it is hard to mess up things as basic as pancakes.

Halloween is fun, Av. Everyone decorates their houses, most of the local businesses stay open late to hand out candy, and little kids dress up in adorable costumes to go door to door for treats. It's right up there with Christmas for most people of their favorite holidays of the year list.

Hahaha, I know what it is, we just don't celebrate it really. I mean, clubs and stuff have halloween parties, but the whole trick or treat thing doesn't really happen.

--A

Someone I have worked with for almost twenty years is transferring out to Tucson.

Tomorrow night is the last night I will get to work with her, so this afternoon I am heading to a couple of gourmet grocery stores (Trader Joes and Whole Foods) to get her gift cards as going away gifts. They have locations in Tucson as well as Ann Arbor. And I figure that people can always use food.

Yeah, it's a bummer when a long-time co-worker leaves. Last week, one of our night shift guys called it quits after seven years. He got laid off from his other job, so he said he could make more money on unemployment, since the night shift here is only casual part-time. Even so, it's sad to see a familiar face gone. And just a week earlier, our receptionist left after a year at the position. (She herself had replaced our long-time receptionist who had retired after being with the company for around twenty years.)

Today is a housework day. I have laundry going, and just mopped up the floor from the poor elderly incontinent dog. My son is out running over the leaves with the riding mulcher mower. I will rake the leaves from the deck in a little while.

Tomorrow my husband is going to a hand tool auction at a local lumber yard which is going out of business. He can always use more hammers and screwdrivers and pipe wrenches. After that we will both go to a big craft fair in Saline. My husband will be passing out business cards and I will be looking for the lady who sells fabric book covers that fit mass market paperbacks. I carry books around in my purse, and this protects them from getting all beaten up. The one i have is starting to get beaten up itself.

Yes, it looks to be a quiet weekend.

Well, other than the crowd of teenaged boys expected over this afternoon for a Guitar Hero orgy.