Thursday 27 September 2007

Would you like a large fries with that?

I haven't been able to concentrate at all today. I must have started and stopped the same piece of analysis five times and I’m barely any further along with it than I was this morning. I’m going nowhere fast and if I don’t get my act together I’m going to end up making up for lost time over the weekend. Unfortunately my heart just isn’t in it, I feel so completely overwhelmed by work at the moment that I don’t know where to start and I’m in one of those moods where I’m close to telling the powers that be exactly where they can stick their job. It’s one of those weeks where you think, 'could working in McDonalds really be worse than this?'

At least my day started well, in a most civilized manner in fact. Rather than scarf down a coffee and a slice of toast at my desk as usual I actually sat down for a leisurely breakfast at a local diner and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a toasted English muffin in the company of Tel Aviv. It was his idea and I was initially reluctant when he suggested it, since I’m not one of those people that likes to waste time in the morning. I’m very efficient; I get up, get showered, get dressed and go straight to work and I’m usually at my desk by 8am. Time spent lolling around having breakfast or reading the paper is time that could be better spent sleeping in my opinion, however the more I pondered the idea of having a leisurely breakfast for a change the more I liked it, and I didn’t have any meetings until 10am, so we ended up stopping by a local diner on the way to the subway.

It was a funny little place that I’d passed often, but had never eaten at before. I liked it, it oozed character and there wasn’t an employee in the place under the age of 60. One of the elderly waitresses had a dowager’s hump to rival
Mrs Overall’s. We took a seat in an empty booth and our waiter shuffled over with a couple of menus. He looked down at the two of us holding hands across the table and said with a wink “I can tell you two aren’t married.”

Cheeky bugger!! :-)

He picked up on my accent when we ordered and asked whereabouts in Yorkshire was I from. A surprise, because my flattened northern vowels tend to confuse many Americans and you'd be surprised at the number of people who peg me for an Australian. As it turned out though our waiter was born in Leeds, although he'd long lost his accent, but his cousin apparently still owns the Queens hotel near Leeds railway station. He'd moved to New York in the 1960s and was thrilled to meet someone who knew Leeds well and kept coming over to refill my coffee and chat to me and reminisce about the good old days living in Yorkshire, much to Tel Aviv's amusement.


Unfortunately my mood took a distinct turn for the crotchety when I arrived at the office saw I’d been copied on an email to my boss asking him if he could spare me to help on some follow up work on the pitch we worked on just over a week ago.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Given that the most recent request - ‘we just need you to help us out for a few hours’ - quickly turned into my working 11hour days over the weekend a couple of weeks ago I was in no mood to be sucked back into the pitch quagmire for ‘just a few hours’, however my boss is not generally renowned for standing up for his staff not working inhumane hours – ‘oh but couldn’t you just squeeze this in somehow?’ - so I’ve been bracing myself all day to be sucked back in and have been in a black mood all day.

Happily my boss just gave me the surprise of my life by popping by to say that he’s going to take on the pitch work himself and that I shouldn’t worry about it. Now there's a turn up for the books. I’m still reeling with shock.

14 comments:

Heather said...

Sister, I have SO been in your shoes. The problem with being a hard worker and responsible is that people count on you being a hard worker and responsible.

Who needs THAT?!! :)

Anonymous said...

Well, it sounds like you barely escaped that one but don't look back or question it.

Maybe just go for some fries? Or chips *wink*

And hey...a nice "leisurely" breakfast? I wouldn't know what to do with myself as I don't eat breakfast. My stomach doesn't wake up until at least noon? Or later?

I'd just drink my tea. Perhaps I'm more of a brunch person.

Anyway, finally...

http://patientanonymous.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/long-overdue-blog-love/

But it's got a bit of a sad and frustrating ending...

Poppet's not happy!

Amel said...

I'll read your post later, now I'm in a hurry.

Anyway, Fish, you've been tagged. This is an easy and fun meme, so check it out:

Desktop Meme

Anonymous said...

Enjoying your blog, Fish!

I've actually spent a number of weeks in Yorkshire, mainly near Scarborough, with a bit of York and Leeds thrown in. Nice area, but slightly remote from London and more populated areas. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

Amel said...

WOAH!!! Nice breakfast and it WAS surprising to hear your boss say such a thing.

I also hate the thought of being sucked into doing more things at work. YUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!

My hubby once said that his old boss at the mine asked him to work overtime and he said, "No, thank you" and gladly the boss understood it he he he he...

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Heather - you are right, I don't need this. I am once again weighing up the pros and cons of looking for another, less demanding job. I went through this about 4 months ago and ended up deciding to stick it out a bit longer, but now....!! I think I might venture over to the dark side, I might go and work for the client. They seem to leave at 5pm every day.

Hi PA Poppet - no I am not questionning this unusual turn of events. Maybe he's finally recognising that if he works us all to death he won't have anyone left.

Hi Amel, thanks for stopping by. I'll check out the meme. God for your husband saying no to overtime. I'm guessing he must be a 'work to live' rather than a 'live to work' person like myself ;-)

Hi Mark, thanks for stopping by. I'm thrilled you enjoy my blog. I'm from the busier areas of Yorkshire :-) Are you a Londoner? I lived in Ealing for 6years before moving to NYC.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I'm Canadian. I was in Scarborough for a work assignment about ten years ago and I've been there a couple of times since.

Amel said...

Ooohhh that's too bad about the tag, Fish...but you know, you can always edit the picture (delete some icons or stuff). But it's a hassle, I know he he he...so no worries! ;-D

Yeah, my hubby's definitely like you in the working dept. he he he...

Amel said...

Btw, have a SPECIAL weekend!!! Perhaps with Tel Aviv again, eh? *wink wink*

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Mark - Canadian eh? I keep meaning to head up to Canada for a visit, but have yet to make it happen. Interesting that you go to Scarborough for business from Canada. I've been there a couple of times, but I'm definitely a city girl.

Hi Amel - I might rearrange some things and post a different desktop picture for the meme if I get a chance. A busy weekend planned, I'll try and post about it. I'm seeing Tel Aviv on Sunday ;-)

Ha Ha Sound said...

Hiya, Fish. Glad that you got out of having to work on that pitch all weekend. That would've been horrible. And good for you for treating yourself to a nice, leisurely breakfast.

BTW, where I work, whenever my boss complains about the long hours he has to put in, I always tell him, "I'm sure they're hiring at Quiznos." Sometimes it's a wonder I haven't been fired yet. =+)

Amel said...

No worries about the meme...just take it easy and ENJOY your date and weekend! ;-D

alcoment said...

Ok, so I'm a little late on commenting on this!

I hope you're having a good weekend and aren't working! Still thinking about going over to the client? There is a certain appeal to MacDonalds, I often consider Tesco's when things get rough at my work!

Emmy said...

Oh my god. You know there is such a thing as Karma and good Karma comes along for people like you. I Promise.