Friday in the Office

I am in sales... and today is Friday. And it's spring. And we are having the first stretch of sunny weather we've had this year. Anyone with experience in sales knows what that means. I don't have to say it out loud... don't make me.

So you can imagine my dismay when, the day before yesterday I read the email notice I found in my in-box at work telling me of the on-line training program that was going to be hosted on Friday. At 3:00 pm. And, as an added bonus, the event was being hosted in my office, so everyone in our sales team was, naturally expected to attend in person rather than just on-line like everyone else. You can imagine. And that's before I heard the weather forcast for today.

Right now it's 6:30 pm, sunny and warm. And it's been like this all day.

Now, so you appreciate fully the impact of this kind of demand on me and my colleagues, allow me to further expand on the environment in which I work. It is a medium sized office with a sales team of 11, eight men and three women plus administration and technical support. As a sales team we generally check in once during the day, usually first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, but other than that we are out and about... masters of our own destinies. We travel where we need to and break when we need. We meet up for coffees some days, have lunch together others and sometimes don't even see one another. But we are a cohesive team and we have a lot of fun together. The office itself is made up... and this is the worse part... of cubicles. I work in a little cubicle that proportionally I wouldn't make a mouse or elephant spend any time in. I feel that if you have one strand of creative DNA, one once of innovative fiber in your being, this environment is the best way to suppress it or at least numb it for the duration of your stay. I get out as much as I can. Unfortunately, it is also expected of us that we use Friday as paper work days. At least in the morning we are expected to be there.

Except for today. Today we got the full dose of office Novocaine.

So naturally, my colleagues and I were a little antsy and looking for ways to have fun. I can say with absolute certainty that I was not the only one who got little accomplished because my focus just wasn't there... I chatted with my cubby-mates, went for coffee (twice), checked my emails every five minutes (work and home)... you get my drift. So when someone suggested going to my new favourite hot dog stand for lunch I was the first one to pop my head out of my 5' gopher wall and shout "I am in!"

So off we paraded (only five of us I'm afraid, but that's a pretty good turn out) on our lunch pass out of captivity.

This hot dog stand is actually more like a trailer and it is (and I say this with absolute love and affection) a dive. I love a dive. Some of the best meals I've had have been at dives and some of the most interesting people work there. So I love this place. The hot dogs come in a dizzying variety and the line up of patrons on sunny days like today goes out the door. As we waited in line, conversation surrounded which hot dog to get... I was the only gal of the bunch and so the guys were doing their guy thing (sorry to my male readers but you have to admit you do this stuff or you know someone who does) and challenging each other to the most disgusting combination of foods to eat.

Two things about my personality... One, I love a challenge. Love. It. And two, having lived for the last 25 years with men and boys from babies to spouse, from one to four at a time plus the constant stream of male friends, I can keep up with just about anything guys can dish out.

So I had a "guided missile" hot dog (with fried onions, sauerkraut and mustard) some onion rings and a diet coke (keeping slim you know). Then as we ate, the meeting challenge came. Can Sally produce a belch during the meeting? And more importantly, will she?

I am sure by now I have destroyed whatever image of culture, refinement or restraint I may have inadvertently put across in my previous blogs and for that I apologize. But I felt up to the challenge. So I chugged the pop, woofed down the dog and rings and prepared myself for a show that would make my teammates proud.

About five minutes after we returned to the office, the guided missile began making its way through my digestive track and to save you the disgust of the details and me the remains of my dignity, I instead turned my efforts to keeping the missile down and making it through the rest of the day. I popped TUMS, drank lots of water and waited impatiently (even more impatiently than I had been previously which even I found hard to believe) for the meeting time.

I will spare the suspense. No belch was forthcoming. I could make excuses (I was the last to arrive and was seated farthest away from anyone.... any belch that would be heard by my challengers would have to reach decibel levels I'm not sure on my best day I was capable of and this definitely wasn't my best day, regional and national representatives were in attendance) but I know that excuses are a sign of the weak.

I will admit my defeat at the assigned task.

Mighty Casey has struck out.

But I kept it down and I can tell you, that's an accomplishment in itself!! I love Fridays.