Tag: work

Crankypantsing

Not So Bored

Shelly

I’ve been reading a book on Richard Proenneke, on the advice of someone in one of the dog groups. To say that it’s not great literature is an understatement, but it’s a lovely story. It’s based on Proenneke’s journals and is told in diary format, which I obviously find compelling, despite the bad writing. I’m about half-way through it, and it occurred to me that I could just about be a hermit. It’s not that there aren’t people I like, and that I wouldn’t miss having a support system, but I think I would be pretty content with my own company.

And then, yesterday, a friend and I were talking about being irritated by people (she’s a departmental secretary, which is a thankless job). The cube farm was making me a little angsty, so I told her I’m ready to move to a deserted island. Oh, but seriously. She reckoned that I’d get bored, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve never been bored a day in my life.

She complains a lot about being bored, though, and I have to admit to not being terribly sympathetic. I just don’t understand the concept. I’ve suggested that, if she doesn’t like being bored, then maybe she should cultivate a hobby or twelve. She’s considered and rejected every hobby I can think of, though. Maybe she secretly enjoys being bored? In any event, it can’t be that tortuous, since she prefers it to doing just about anything.

Crankypantsing

Black Thumb of Doom

Shelly

Coworker 1 asked me to water her plants. I warned her about the Black Thumb of DQQM, but she was unimpressed. That’ll learn her.

Then, the next day, the uber-boss asked me to water her plants, and while I was explaining to her why that was a horrible plan, Coworker 2 walked up, butted in, and asked me to water his plants, too. What the hell is wrong with people? Can they not see that mine is the only cube unadorned by green, growing things? And it’s not like I’m the only person working this week.

I’m secretly hoping that Coworker 2’s plants do croak. I wouldn’t deliberately harm them, but if my Plantular Death Ray has to be focused somewhere, it may as well be on his plants as anyone else’s. It’d serve him right for being a buttinsky.

Coworker 1: She left specific instructions to water them on the 26th, and to give the first plant half the container of water, then to split the second half between the other two plants. I did as she said with the first two plants, but the third one is low enough for me to see the dirt. And it was wet. I have a feeling that someone–custodians, perhaps?–watered her plants before I did. I should have felt them first, to see if they were actually dry. Damn! So now, two of her plants are surely swimming in an ocean of water.

Uber-boss: One of her African violets is actually flowering. Please, if there is a God, it will not be dead when she returns.

Coworker 2: Three spider plants, which would be just about impossible for anyone else to kill. We’ll see. I have to water them again on Friday, so it’s early days yet.

Photography

A Neglected View

Shelly

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Wells Library Facade from the 3rd Floor Landing

As I was standing on the back landing, a coworker came up the stairs and stopped to talk. He said that he’s worked there for years, and he’s never stopped to look out that window before. I can’t imagine being that oblivious to your surroundings. I look out that window every single day.