lucky me
I just went to put my pot pie in the oven for lunch, and when I got back there was a sample packet of 12 dinner rolls on my desk. Nice!
I am once again reminded of how much I love this job, how much I love this office location, and even how much I love the people I work with. It's all part of how, in spite of occasional, honestly minor problems in the grand scheme of things, for the better part of fifteen years now I've basically lived a charmed life. Honestly, I ascribe this in equal measure both to blind luck and to my own attitude. I expect my days to be fine, and generally speaking they are. I don't even let arguments with Shobhit ruin my day. Those are the worst parts of my life, and if the worst parts of your life only ever truly last for minutes, or at most hours, at a time, then life is going pretty well.
It's not at all lost on me that this is not the same experience most other people get to have -- not even other people at my very same employer. It's easy for me to lose sight of how many personnel problems people in HR have to deal with, even among close work friends of mine, because I am never part of them myself. This has literally never happened to me once, for as long as I have worked here: I never had to have a meeting with anyone in HR because of personal problems with another employee.
The closes was when Stephanie nearly fired me after my first six months, and I talked to Marianne about it, and she asked around in HR for me. She came back with some feedback. But, my relationship with Stephanie subsequently steadily improved, and there were never any official meetings with HR. I suppose some people might think it's surprising considering my capacity for snarkiness, but I really do get along with most people pretty well. The worst I get here is the couple of people who don't really ever talk to me at all -- they basically just avoid me, which makes me act in kind. But there's never any outright hostility. There was one woman for several years where there was a kind of subversive, mostly contained hostility, but she quit so who gives a shit? And again, even that was never anything particularly bad.
I get along with my supervisor, and I get along with his supervisor, and everyone who tasks me with anything in the Grocery world of the Merchandising department is someone I have between neutral and high opinions of. This has basically always been the case. I can see other departments I'm pretty sure I'd have more difficulty with, and I suppose there's always the chance that leadership turnover in the future could change things. But, so far? It's been pretty smooth sailing for me, all things considered. Honestly self-entitled customers annoy me far more than any coworkers or managers ever do.
I left work fifteen minutes early yesterday to bike to the U District and see Brad's Status with Sara -- from work! She had an errand to run so we met there. She was already waiting when I got there, with maybe seven minutes to spare before the showtime.
This was when I discovered, for the first time, that Tuesday tickets are half price at this theatre! This is sort of half-new; the cashier explained that they retained the loyalty programs that Sundance Cinemas had there before AMC Theatres took over -- such as the $6 tickets on Mondays with an Orca Card, which I have long known about. Apparently the half-price Tuesdays used to be only for "Girls Night," but they decided to expand it for everyone. Works for me! And here I thought I was going to have to pay full price for the ticket since Sara couldn't go on Monday. Matthew lucks out, yet again. That happens a lot, you see?
Anyway, the movie was quite good. It's very different, sort of depressing at first, then touching and affecting by the end. Hard to describe in a way that demonstrates how much it's really worth seeing. I'm really glad I saw it, anyway. Sara and I talked about it for longer than we even usually do after the movie. It was already 7:30 and the sun was nearly down by the time I was getting on my bike to ride back home.
Here is an example, though, of why it was very wise for me to buy the headlight for my helmet. I felt so much more comfortable riding home with that on as it was getting dark.
The rear-view mirror is another story. I finally tossed it. It would never stay in the same position and often nearly fell off. It was just a pain in the ass. At least that didn't cost very much.
