As If the Fact That It's Monday Wasn't Enough

Just like virtually everyone else in America, I hate Mondays. When I woke up this morning, I considered calling in sick, something I think about every Monday. I dismissed the thought when I remembered that I might actually need that sick leave day at some point. I came to work this morning, a little dazed still from the weekend and already wishing I could schedule in some nap time later in the day.

The day started out fine. I chatted up some of my co-workers, did a little corporate bonding and settled into the day. Shortly after lunch, I noticed some tumult in the break room downstairs. My boss (and owner of the company) arrived in a manic mode today. I don't use that word lightly--he actually seems to be bipolar, though I'm not sure he's received that specific diagnosis. If he hasn't, it's just because bipolar people are often misdiagnosed. We all hate it when Owner arrives all wound up; it never fails that a tidal wave follows in his wake.

Today he decided to completely redesign the patio downstairs, disrupting the (somewhat) feral kitties who live there. He called me up and ran his plan by me. He wanted to know if it was okay with me. Well, no. It's not okay. It's bound to flip out the kitties, with whom I've worked long and hard to establish a sense of trust and safety. I told him the plan sounded good to me. He's going to do as he pleases, no matter what I say. It's just a complete waste of time and energy for me to disagree with it. Nonetheless, it did ruffle my feathers a bit, which is disturbing because for a minute there I lost the "I'm more mature and reasonable than you" contest which I always win. (I'm the only one who knows I'm even playing the game, so my perception of who wins is paramount.)

I discovered the cause of the brouhaha downstairs when I went to the patio to distribute kitty treats. Owner is also completely reconfiguring the kitchen and break room. They're two separate and popular rooms. Everyone makes their breakfast in the kitchen every day and the company maintains some snack-type foods (which absolutely no one here needs to be eating, including me) in the refrigerator. There's a television in the break room where people eat their lunch and watch the weather channel or CNN or something. I have a couple of cohorts who are major hoop heads and on occasion (like March Madness for instance), we set up camp down there and root for our fave teams. We're all a bit sensitive to the possibility of either of those rooms being tampered with.

I decided to check around and find out if any of my co-workers were in the know about the alterations. Crazy Employee didn't know what was going on, but she was concerned that the kitchen is being repainted. Both Crazy Employee and I suffer from migraines from time to time and she worried that the paint fumes might trigger one. I hadn't thought of that, but she has a point. Beginning on Friday, I had a migraine for two days.

Mr. Moneybags and The Information Superhighway were also in an uproar. Apparently, my boss has decided to move his office. No one knows where, but they're irritated about it, nonetheless. It's that habit he has of working himself up into high gear and then seeming to take other people's feelings into account while, in reality, he's just going to do as he damn well pleases. If I was playing the More Mature and Reasonable game with them, I'd be the winner hands down. I wasn't quite as worked up as they were.

If I were to do a survey of the other 3 people who work downstairs, I'm sure I'd find 3 more annoyed people. I'm fairly certain they won't know where Owner is moving his office, so I'm not even going to bother with checking their emotional temperature. One of our coworkers (Loathsome) has been in a branch in another state for several years and he's due to return relatively soon. I suggested to Mr. Moneybags and The Superhighway that maybe our boss is moving over to that office in my side of the building and having the returning guy office on their side of the building. No one found that amusing.

Mr. M. told me that our boss had looked in Loathsome's office and noted that all of his stuff is still boxed up from the time we had our upstairs offices recarpeted. We all had to box everything to make it easier for the guys to do the installation, so Crazy Employee put Loathsome's office crappola into boxes for him. No one has unpacked it. Owner wanted to know why and pointed out to Superhighway that our returning worker will be insulted that we left it that way. Oh my god! Did that ever get everyone's panties in a collective wad. No one here likes Loathsome (hence the name), so any suggestion that anyone should go out of their way for him is taken as an insult to the rest of us. Ah, office politics...how I love them.

Other than that, it's just your usual crappy Monday. Our only hope is that tomorrow the proverbial worm will have turned and our boss will be too depressed to even come in.

Here's the quote of the day:
"Always be smarter than the people who hire you." ~ Lena Horne

America held hostage day 1916
Bushism of the day:
"I want to appreciate those of you who wear our nation's uniform for your sacrifice."—Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 14, 2005

Website of the day: American Constitution Society For Law and Policy
http://www.acslaw.org/

Current reading:
Original Dwelling Place, Robert Aiken