Wednesday was my official one year anniversary of being at my job. I work in a law office, and while it’s a good job, it’s not what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to get back into non-profit development, but that’s an economy based job, and the economy in California still sucks. I told myself that I would stay here for a year before looking for something new. It may be even longer before I start looking, depending on a lot of factors in my life, but that is for another post. Today I thought I’d offer you a glimpse into my mostly mundane but sometimes unusual workdays.
Earlier this week, CrazyFamily had an appointment with my office to come and discuss some family affairs. Apparently they do this a couple times a year. The first couple of times they were in, it was just the kids (not really kids as the youngest of them is in her 50’s). DaughterCrazy and I have had a lot of contact, as we had to work closely to get something resolved for the family, and she now thinks I am her best friend. (I am told she has some level of mental instability, as well as a drinking problem, but whatever…) So anyway this time, MomCrazy was at the meeting as well. She is 80 if she’s a day, and seemed a little bit out of it. Actually, she seemed like an older, slightly battier version of DaughterCrazy. (I think it might be a female thing because SonCrazy I and SonCrazy II seem pretty on top of things.)
There were too many people to fit in the office conference room, so we rented the larger conference room here on our floor. We got everyone headed out to the new space, with MomCrazy standing at my desk, confused and asking where to go. “Just follow Boss”, I told her. “Follow Boss and he’ll take you there.” But MomCrazy decided she had to go to the bathroom, so I opened the door for her, then made sure everyone was settled into the conference room. Boss looked at me and asked me to make sure she found the conference room when she came out. So I stood in the hall for about 10 minutes, waiting for her to come out. Finally I grabbed my keys and went into the bathroom to check on her.
MomCrazy was standing at the sink, looking utterly perplexed. She saw me come in and she said to me, “How do you turn the water on?” I explained to her that they are automatic sinks, and she should just put her hands under the faucet and the water would come on. She looked at me doubtfully and placed her hands under the faucet, then nearly jumped out of her skin when the water came on. I got her out of there and was in process of delivering her to the conference room when SonCrazy II came looking for her. Finally everyone was settled and I could get back to work.
The meeting ran long by about an hour and a half. Family members came and went intermittently to get the restroom keys, Kleenex. more water, etc. Finally the meeting ended, and unbeknownst to me MomCrazy made one more trip to the bathroom. A few minutes later, my suite door opened and MomCrazy came in asking if her family was in the suite. I told her they would probably still be in the conference room, and got up to take her back over there. As I got to my suite door, MomCrazy said “Thank you Dearie” to someone in the hall. Turns out she had gone into the suite down the hall from ours, and someone brought her back to our office. I dropped her back off at the conference room, and finally (finally!!) CrazyFamily was gone (and this time I managed to avoid a very perfumy hug from DaughterCrazy.and I won’t have to deal with them for another six months.