So, I went to bed at 10:30pm last night – and I was darn proud of myself! Eric went out to take a shower and then watched TV in the living room. I never even heard him come back in. So, what happens? I wake up. It’s still dark. As I’m laying there, I see Eric sit up and look at the clock. So, I say, “What time is it?” It’s 4:30am! Huh? I am supposed to be getting an extra hour of sleep, so why am I waking up an hour and a half early? I did eventually fall back to sleep, but not for a while, and then I had some VERY weird dreams!
Anyway, it wasn’t easier to get out of bed this morning. Boo hoo. Work was pretty quiet today. My boss made it through the entire week without being called for Jury Duty, so he was in every single day, which is very unusual! I didn’t do much, but worked on a few projects from 12-3 when my trainee arrived. My boss left a little after 1:00pm, so she and I worked on some stuff and then I did absolutely nothing but read my book from 3-4:30pm and I snuck out early with my ride!
So, the saga finally ended today with Crazy Phone Lady (CPL). First of all, when HR confronted her about all the things she did, CPL told them that she did exactly what we asked her to do. Now, if I had just told her what to do it would have been her word against mine, but there were THREE of us and ONE of her, so they KNEW she was lying through her teeth!
CPL came by my desk this morning and said, “Well, I guess I got it all wrong!” I wanted to say, “No you didn’t get anything wrong, you did it exactly the way you wanted.” Instead, I just said, “That’s okay!” So, she fixed everything on my phone, but said she didn’t want to take my trainee’s 5th floor extension off her desk there (on the 6th floor), because she thought it was important that people be able to contact her.
I explained to her AGAIN (and my boss, my trainee and I already explained this to her the other day) that she didn’t WANT to be contacted in reference to her other job while she was training for the new job. So, she said, “What if there’s a family emergency? How are the operators supposed to know where she is?” So, I said, “If there’s a family emergency, they’ll call her cell phone!” So, CPL says, “The operators don’t know her cell phone number!” So, I said, “Not the operators – her FAMILY will call her cell phone!”
Meanwhile, what business is it of hers? I said, “Listen, this is just for THREE WEEKS. Knock wood, there won’t be any family emergencies!” So, she says, “I’ll have to talk to her about this myself.”
So, CPL calls my trainee while she’s sitting training with me and she actually said to her, “You shouldn’t be hiding if people are trying to find you.” Are you kidding me?
Ultimately, with the help of the two women in HR, we got it all resolved and – I am thrilled to report – everything is finally just as it should be. It only took two days, about 20 emails, about ½ hour on the phone, and a lot of hair pulling. If I was the boss, she’d be fired. My ride (who works in HR) told me that this is not the first time people have had problems with her. We don’t know what her story is, but it ain’t good.
One other interesting thing happened today. A guy who I’ve been working with for 4 months mentioned that his grandparents lived in Whitestone. He used to go visit them about once a month. They lived walking distance to where Eric and I lived – right by Whitestone Park, by the bridge. Such a small world! I sent my folks an email, asking if they knew of them, since they might have belonged to the same synagogue! Can’t wait to find out!
So, as I already mentioned, we snuck out at 4:30pm and when I got home Eric and I went to COSTCO and then to KEILS. We bought a lot of great stuff at COSTCO, including sushi for our dinner tonight (delish!), lots of drinks, broccoli, grape tomatoes and pasta for my pasta salad, and a lot of other stuff we needed.
The only thing I bought at KEILS were fresh veggies for the pasta salad. I'll go back on Sunday afternoon to do my regular food shopping. When we got home we unpacked everything and I put the big pot of water on the stove. I made the tri-colored bow-tie pasta. Turns out, I don’t have as many bowls as I used to and don’t have one big enough for all the pasta AND the veggies. I decided it would be better to cut all the veggies in L.A. at Ilene’s anyway, because then everything would be fresher. So, we’re just bringing all the veggies, and two big bowls full of pasta. I’m hoping Ilene has a giant bowl to mix it all up in!
I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE while Eric worked out. Then, I came out and worked on the computer. I want to get a good night’s sleep, so we can get on the road at a decent hour tomorrow (10:00am). I’m hoping we don’t hit any traffic, but chances are we will!
I’m so happy we’ll be seeing Karen and Ilene and their families. This is our third trip to L.A. to see them since we got to the West Coast. It’s always fun and I love seeing all their kids, too. We’re looking forward to dinner with our friends, Joe & Miguel, too. The weather is supposed to be great and a day in L.A. is just what the doctor ordered!