My day got off to a fine start at 5:30 a.m. this morning when the phone rang. A phone ringing that early means either a wrong number or an emergency. It wasn't a wrong number. It was one of my colleagues at work. Turns out that there was a water main break just outside our building in downtown Silver Spring, and our building would be closed today. On one hand, that's actually kind of nice news, meaning I would get the day off from work. But first, before I could enjoy, I needed to make sure I informed as many of employees as possible not to go to work today. Some employees begin working at 6 a.m., so it was already too late to catch them. But the late arrivals should get the message prior to leaving their homes for work. Fortunately, due to the recent government shutdown, we put together a phone tree so that we could let employees know where there is a situation just like this one. Unfortunately, we just completed a realignment and many of my employees are new to me. I didn't have a phone tree made for those new employees. This was a problem.
So my morning was spent trying to get the word out to everyone that they would not be able to get in the building at all, so they shouldn't even attempt it. But I wasn't even close to catching everyone. And there were a few angry employees. No matter how much you try to reason with them, they're just not going to accept that you didn't do everything possible to let them know about the situation. And that's why I'm the boss. I get the blame.
As I said, though, it was just the early part of the day that was frustrating. After that, I was able to just enjoy the rest of the day. Who doesn't like an unexpected free day off with pay? The only downside was the fact that my daughter had a half day of school, so by the time I started to enjoy my day, it was time to pick up my daughter.
I just got a phone call a short while ago telling me that our building would be closed again tomorrow, so the day will be repeated. The only difference is that we've already alerted all of the employees, so I won't have to repeat the exercise tomorrow. However, it's also the day that I scheduled a parent-teacher conference, so tomorrow I'll actually have to get a shower and get cleaned up.
***
With Thanksgiving coming up in a few days, it's actually kind of nice to get a few days off leading up to the Big Day. There's not much for me to do, though. Mom & Dad are hosting Thanksgiving, and there will be about a dozen of us coming to dinner. Mom never skimps for Thanksgiving, either. Aside from turkey, we'll have all of the standards along with it. Dessert will include the pumpkin pies (made with the family recipe) and a few other tasty items. Dad actually handles the pies, and I'm hoping he'll remember I need a sugar-free pie. Mom told me today that dinner will be at one, which works out great. We'll be able to sleep in a little bit, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, then head over to their place. Then we'll watch football the rest of the day. Just my luck, my Steelers will be playing Thursday evening against the hometown Ravens. It should be a fine match up.
The only downside to the day is the fact that my sister and my future sister-in-law have decided to go out shopping on Thursday evening to catch a few of the sales. This after I had gotten on my soapbox about how much I hate that the stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day. They don't seem to care about my opinion, though, and they just want to catch whatever sales are going on that night. They'll probably still get an earful from me about it, but it sounds like they're going, anyway. Oh, well.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment