Friday, September 14, 2007

A rambling account of my sucky week and it's ultimate redemption

Happy Monday. Let's hope this week is better than last week. Last week, at one point I was seriously considering jumping off a very high bridge.


It started well enough - I took last Monday off because I needed a mental health day - and I got to play Mrs. Mom for the day. It was such a wonderfully productive day - I was able to do some crafting (for that etsy shop I keep mentioning) and knitting, and laundry, and cleaning, and movie watching, all the while spending the day with my little munchkin. Man I love that kid.


Anyway, it all went down hill from there. Tuesday I woke up late, and we were in the midst of a horrible rainstorm, so I decided to drive through hellish traffic and flooding to our satellite office and spend the day there - which sometimes is good, but this time it sucked because I didn't have things I needed with me and well, just trust me it sucked.


Wednesday was even worse. Again, I woke up late. I had an extremely important 9:30 meeting to make. Okay no problem, I'll take the next train which will still get me there in plenty of time. Then some bizarre time vortex happened and before I knew it I realized I wasn't going to make the next train either. Okay the next train after that will get me there AT 9:30. Rush rush rush, yada yada yada, get in the car, look at the clock - Holy Shit you are kidding me I am going to miss this train too. So I drive like a maniac to the train station and pray to God that He doesn't choose this day to teach me a lesson and put a small animal or (GOD FORBID) a small person in the road in front of me. I thankfully avoid disaster, park and run in heels and jump onto the train right before the doors close. I sit on the train panting like a rabid dog, and try to sit quietly and will my sweat glands to stop producing. I do finally settle down...so much in fact that I get so engrossed in my book that I miss my transfer. UGH. I end up having to take a much busier much more ANNOYING route to the office. Once I finally get there, I nearly sprint to the conference room to find that....the meeting has been delayed an entire half hour. Which means I have to hang around doing nothing until it starts. So I am standing in the hallway checking the BB, and my boss comes up with a puss on his face. And he starts telling me how displeased he is with a certain issue that has come up. And goes on. and on. And drops the F bomb. And then basically says he has no confidence in my team and storms off. *SIGH*

The rest of the day was spent playing email volleyball with him, because he got himself on a nice little roll there, and decided he needed to know (and criticize) the status of every project and issue we are currently dealing with. All day long. It finally ended at about 8:30 pm - I was sitting in the parking lot of a Boston M@rket having just picked up a late dinner, and emailing him back saying that I was sorry everything was so terribly horrible but can you please just cut me a break here, I am trying very hard and I am not one for excuses, but how much can a person take?? I got what could kind of pass as an apology, and a nice note that despite his meltdown, he's happy I'm in charge over the team. There may or may not have been a few tears at that point - but if there were it was only relief that I didn't have to argue any more, that the work day was now officially over and that I could go home and have dinner with my family.

Thursday was slightly better, only to be worse again on Friday when I had to attend two different client meetings, both of which were like walking into the lion's den. I hate it when people find the need to ambush you with issues, issues that could have very easily been resolved with a phone call when first identified, instead of calling a meeting with big wigs who don't need to be involved, and don't really understand that you are making a freaking mountain out of a molehill. Or at the very least, have the courtesy to allow me to prepare to be yelled at by a different set of people who are unhappy with me this week. Needless to say, by the end of the day, I felt like I was hit by a mack truck.

The weekend was MUCH better because 1) I have the ability to switch off my brain from work and didn't give any of it another thought once I left the building and 2) I have the best husband in the world.

BT was participating in some fishing tournament thing which involved him being out of the house for practically the entire day on Saturday. This afforded me some much needed time to try and finish some craft projects, and spend quality time with the seamonkey. Did I mention I love that kid? On Sunday I accompanied BT to the closing "ceremonies" of the tournament (read: a bunch of skanky fisherman and a suck up councilman standing in the parking lot gawking over fish carcasses) and it was a beautiful day, so I walked with seamonkey along the beach, and visited a new 9/11 memorial that was constructed there. Hauntingly beautiful - it gave me goosebumps. Afterwards we dropped the boy off at the grandparents and we went shopping.

Shopping beause - I need to upgrade my wardrobe. In this new position I have much more visibility, and many more occasions that require me to wear an actual business suit. As much as that pains me, both financially (I'm cheap) and physically (I hate wearing jackets) it is a necessity. I have been dreading this shopping trip because I'm hard to fit (and to please) and I've already been to many stores with no luck. We decide to head off to L&T because they have a decent selection in my size. We started off a little rocky, I must have brought in 15 things to try on and only came out with one shirt and one suit that would have been perfect except for the front darts on the jacket that made me look *ahem* very cold. I come out to show BT that "See? It isn't my fault, my body is bizarre and uncooperative so how can I be expected to find anything decent, and ---"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST HAVE THEM TAILOR IT?"

.....

As I'm standing there blinking at him, speechless...the fitting room attendant sticks her head out and says: "I'm sorry, did you say you needed a tailor? Would you like me to call her up here?" to which BT of course yells "YES!" We were told we would have to wait a bit since she was backed up, but would we like to continue shopping? "YES!" says BT again as he grabs me by the hand and drags me into the suits section of the store. Now I have never, ever bought a suit where both pieces are together on one hanger. I am two different sizes on top and bottom, so I have always bought separates, in separate sizes. Standing among a sea of actual real life suits, BT tells me to "Stand there and don't move". He goes around pulling suits from everywhere, in the larger size to accomodate my *cough* voluptious bosom. "But I don't like---" I start to protest... "SHUT UP." he said "YOU WILL TRY ON WHAT I GIVE YOU." And for the next 20 minutes I tried on every jacket he handed me. It went quickly - we could see what had potential and what didn't. In the end, I had 4 suits in gray, brown, black pinstripe and a pretty brown/pink pinstripe. And when the tailor came, I tried them all on and just pushed through my embarrasment (I was convinced she was going to laugh at me and tell me that she was a tailor and not a magician or something) and together we agreed on what to do to make them look better. Mostly she made the bigger pants smaller, and adjusted some jacket seams to skim my curves better. The total for the alterations was just $80!! And the suits themselves were all at least 30% off or better, and the saleswoman gave me a 20% coupon for everything. Tell me can you beat that?? Stacey and Clinton would be so proud!!

So it ended up okay. I'm hopeful this is a better week. If not, I'm definitely going shoe shopping next weekend!

Oh and the husband? Don't worry, he was justly rewarded...if you know what I mean.....

16 comments:

Third Mom said...

Oi. What a week you had for sure, but the suits were your reward for persevering!

My weeks are scheduled to get very bad in two weeks - which coincides with our office move from a location 19 miles from home to one 42 miles from home. No train, no public transportation, just a long and grueling drive - with TOLLS at the end. Yippee!

I fortunately have a boss who allows pretty regular work at home, which is where I'll be most of the time. Thank goodness!

Thalia said...

that is one impressive husband you've got there. i'm glad he got a reward!

beagle said...

Wow! Nothing better than a happy ending shopping spree!

Rachael said...

Gosh, I feel kind of bad sitting here reading your blog at work after the crummy week you had, especially because I'm actually sitting at my desk with NOTHIN' to do (really, my desk is completely cleared of tasks and my next appt. is not for 5 more minutes...I don't know how this happened).

I would like to know how you do that part about turning off the work stress when you come home and leaving it all behind though. When I get burned out and have a string of crummy days (it happens to the best of us), it all replays in my mind later when I really need to be sleeping, which is not a good thing.

Your husband is awesome. I can't imagine my husband in a million years ever uttering the word "tailor", it would just never cross his mind. WAY TO GO BT!

Hope this week is shaping up to be much improved.

Amy said...

Hi, I just found your blog and found it entertaining (your writing style). Sorry you had a horrible week...hopefully this one will be much better. Loved the comment about Clinton and Stacey...love that show!!!

Samantha said...

Man, my husband would never show that kind of a.) forethought or b.) patience that yours did on that shopping trip! That's impressive!

My workweek is just a little crazy, but at least no one is attacking me in meeting or sending me loads of disapproving emails! Sheesh! Hope this week goes better.

Rob, Dana, Murphy and Jack! said...

Way to go, BT! I want someone to nominate me for What Not To Wear but I don't think I dress as bad as some of those people. Of course, they say the very same thing!

Tell me every place I need to see and go and where to eat and how to live cheap down there! I need lots of direction!

Jenny said...

L&T is my favorite store and we don't have one here. I love the one in CT. We buy ALOT of the girls clothes there (well my mom does) and you can always find an outfit or shoes on sale with a coupon!

I am soo glad it worked out and I hope you get a better start this week!

Michelle Smiles said...

Suddenly I don't miss working :) Sorry you had a sucky ass week...but everything seems a little less bleak when you look fabulous. Woohoo for the hubby saving the day!

Bezzie said...

Oof. Even though I'm not in NYC--I'm close enough to truly realize your transport pain. What a fustercluck!

Anonymous said...

Wooo, I hate days/weeks like that! But at least the weekend made up for it. Especially if your hubby is willing to go shopping with you!!

Tami said...

Way to go BT!!! He's a keeper! Any man that will not only go shopping with you but will utter the word, 'tailor', is worth his weight in gold! Glad you had a great end to a cruddy week...and hope this week is going much better.

chanceofbooks said...

Hoping that this week is better for you! and BT is totally wonderful! My DH has about 10 seconds of patience for female clothes shopping.

katd said...

What a week! But, if at the end you knew that Stacy and Clinton would be proud, it's all totally worth it:)

Melissa said...

man that was one sucky week. Ihope next week goes better for ya. If not, there is always a day at the spa.

Erica Kain said...

Dang, it sounds like your boss was blowing a gasket about something else and found you to harp on -- that sucks being the "whipping boy!" And the late-night apology doesn't seem ample. I'd seethe for a while longer, but I'm never one to take criticism with any kind of grace.

Anyway, congrats on the suits and the inexpensive alterations. And congrats to your husband on earning some, what should we call it, bed cred???