Stir-crazy
On Friday, I worked at home, which I hardly ever do, and I got tons done, despite the constant din of screeching children at the camp that's held across the street. I swear, these three girls sang that "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world" song for 30 minutes straight. I am curious what got them started on that song -- didn't it come out before they were born?
Today, I am working at home because I am awaiting a call ("sometime between 8 and 5")from the people coming to look at (and, I hope, to fix) our refrigerator/freezer, which has been on the fritz since probably Thursday. Owing to the gray, drizzly, but blessedly cooler weather, it is remarkably quiet. The grayness and the quiet are making me kind of sleepy, which is not so conducive to the working, but was much appreciated during the two-hour conference call I wrapped up, especially because I don't know how to use the mute function on our phone (thank goodness, I do know how to use speaker, because two hours is a long-ass time to be holding the phone up to one's ear).
Now I am secretly wishing for someone to prank call me with the old, "Hey, is your refrigerator running?" because today, the joke would be on him. "No, in fact, it is not."
How do kids make prank calls these days, now that everyone has Caller ID? I was never big into the prank calling per se, but I remember for some reason my junior high friends and I would call up boys we liked and either (1) hang up (which became dangerous by the time I was 10 or 11, when everyone used *69 to dial the last caller) or (2) stay on the line and ask to speak to [NAME], NAME being the girl among us who liked that particular boy. Somehow, we were certain that, if Mike's mom answered the phone, and we asked for Kristin, and she said, "I'm sorry, there's no Kristin here," Mike would overhear her and think, "You know, there is no Kristin here. But I wish there were. I should totally go out with Kristin."
Anyway, nothing makes me want to go out more than being stuck inside, because of course if I leave for 10 minutes to get a sandwich, the service people will call exactly within those 10 minutes, and then we will have to go through this whole rigmarole again later in the week. Believe me, this happened ALL the time when I worked in customer service for the air conditioning company.
"But I just went to pick up my kid from school!"
"But you weren't there when we called. We told you we'd call to verify that someone would be home."
"But I just left for five minutes!! Send him back!! Can't you send him back?!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, he's left the area. We'll try to get him back later today, but we may need to reschedule."
"I'm going to come over there and shoot you if you don't send someone here THIS INSTANT."
So I will be staying put.
I'm also learning from the back-to-back work-at-home days that I could not do a job where I worked at home all the time. It's surprising to me, a little bit, but I actually miss the buzz of the office and having people to talk to all day long (even though I'm grateful for uninterrupted work time for specific tasks that I get done much more quickly at home).
And although Tucker is awfully cute, his repertoire is fairly limited, as it turns out: play dead in the living room; play dead in the sunroom; lick self inappropriately; saunter off for some water; plop back down in living room. And although I can make snarky comments to him the way I would to whoever happens to be walking past my office, it's somehow just not the same. So, good to know for my next gig: Opportunity to work at home as needed? Good. Daily work-at-home arrangement with no opportunity for in-person human interaction? No good.
Today, I am working at home because I am awaiting a call ("sometime between 8 and 5")from the people coming to look at (and, I hope, to fix) our refrigerator/freezer, which has been on the fritz since probably Thursday. Owing to the gray, drizzly, but blessedly cooler weather, it is remarkably quiet. The grayness and the quiet are making me kind of sleepy, which is not so conducive to the working, but was much appreciated during the two-hour conference call I wrapped up, especially because I don't know how to use the mute function on our phone (thank goodness, I do know how to use speaker, because two hours is a long-ass time to be holding the phone up to one's ear).
Now I am secretly wishing for someone to prank call me with the old, "Hey, is your refrigerator running?" because today, the joke would be on him. "No, in fact, it is not."
How do kids make prank calls these days, now that everyone has Caller ID? I was never big into the prank calling per se, but I remember for some reason my junior high friends and I would call up boys we liked and either (1) hang up (which became dangerous by the time I was 10 or 11, when everyone used *69 to dial the last caller) or (2) stay on the line and ask to speak to [NAME], NAME being the girl among us who liked that particular boy. Somehow, we were certain that, if Mike's mom answered the phone, and we asked for Kristin, and she said, "I'm sorry, there's no Kristin here," Mike would overhear her and think, "You know, there is no Kristin here. But I wish there were. I should totally go out with Kristin."
Anyway, nothing makes me want to go out more than being stuck inside, because of course if I leave for 10 minutes to get a sandwich, the service people will call exactly within those 10 minutes, and then we will have to go through this whole rigmarole again later in the week. Believe me, this happened ALL the time when I worked in customer service for the air conditioning company.
"But I just went to pick up my kid from school!"
"But you weren't there when we called. We told you we'd call to verify that someone would be home."
"But I just left for five minutes!! Send him back!! Can't you send him back?!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, he's left the area. We'll try to get him back later today, but we may need to reschedule."
"I'm going to come over there and shoot you if you don't send someone here THIS INSTANT."
So I will be staying put.
I'm also learning from the back-to-back work-at-home days that I could not do a job where I worked at home all the time. It's surprising to me, a little bit, but I actually miss the buzz of the office and having people to talk to all day long (even though I'm grateful for uninterrupted work time for specific tasks that I get done much more quickly at home).
And although Tucker is awfully cute, his repertoire is fairly limited, as it turns out: play dead in the living room; play dead in the sunroom; lick self inappropriately; saunter off for some water; plop back down in living room. And although I can make snarky comments to him the way I would to whoever happens to be walking past my office, it's somehow just not the same. So, good to know for my next gig: Opportunity to work at home as needed? Good. Daily work-at-home arrangement with no opportunity for in-person human interaction? No good.
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