All Quiet on the Working Front

Shhh... Don't say this too loud, but I think things have quieted down a little bit today.  Rod must be feeling guilty, or just plain worn out, after the hell day he put us through yesterday.

Rod greeted me this morning with a personal story, he said, because he likes SHARING.  Oh, the joy that flooded my body upon hearing that... probably couldn't be called joy.  Anyway, he then proceeded to tell me (quite proudly) that he shaved this morning with a straight edge razor.  Something, apparently, he hasn't done in over 20 years.  Are you kidding me?  Twenty years??  No wonder this man has trouble keeping a girlfriend if he can't bother with a close shave for a first date.  And why did he feel the need to share this with me?  Ick Factor +1.

Rod came running over to me in a tizzy about an install that was scheduled for "today."  He kept making references to something I hadn't seen in the calendar, so I double checked.  "Um, Rod?  We aren't installing that product today, or with that person.  We are installing this instead, with this other person."  I leaned away so he could see my monitor and what I was looking at.  "Yes, AHEERMMMM KATIE!  That is because you are looking at the FOURTH.  Discreetly, I looked at my watch (which confirmed it was the fourth), then I looked at my Windows date and time (which confirmed it was the fourth), and lastly, I looked at the calendar (which confirmed it was the fourth)  "Um, Rod?  Today is the fourth.  See?" Again, I leaned away to the side to show him the date.  He looked like he didn't know if he could trust me.  Was I trapping him?  I decided to be helpful.  "Remember?  This weekend was Halloween?  That's why there's candy on the desk over there?"  All of a sudden, you could see it hit him.  He didn't say a word.  Then, he stammered something and left.  (Katie 1, Rod 0)

Did you know squirrels eat Christmas lights that are up in outdoor trees?  I had no idea!  Imagine the hilarity of a story someone could tell you about her mom and dad trapping squirrels in little eco-friendly squirrel traps and then setting them free outside of town... all to protect their lighted Christmas display!  Well, I was just about to be highly entertained by the punchline to this story, when, from out of nowhere, a bark from Rod.  "CAN YOU GIRLS take this somePLACE ELSE?"  So I said "I'm sorry, we'll keep it down."  So Jennifer began again, more quietly.  "THAT'S not my POINT. Can't you take this OUTside or SOMEthing?"  We exchanged a look that Rod could not see.  It was something like 40 F out there! No way!  I pointed out to Rod we hardly ever even take breaks, is it really such a big deal if we finished the story now?  "Well, then TAKE a WALK to the COFFEE SHOP or something."  Wow, really?  What a odd duck he is.  Especially in light of how loud his conversations are with his brothers or friends, discussing everything from politics to girls or gambling.  We put up with inappropriate comments about things like Jack Jews, and we can't share a humorous story about a squirrel eating a string of Christmas lights?  For the love of Pete, this guy is really getting on my bad side.

So I'm having trouble accessing our FTP site (I need to upload some files) and I told Rod as much.  I asked for the contact info to call support for the company that hosts our site.  "Ohhh I'd RATHER I contacted support.  I need to introDUce you to them."  Okay, whatever.  Three hours later, Rod comes up to me and says "Yeah, so I'm LEAVing for a while, and we need that website WORKing, so if you could just CONTACT support, that would work."  Are you kidding me?  This is what I wanted to do three hours ago.  He is a pain.  I could have had the files uploaded and had the site done by now.  Painful sigh.  (Katie 2, Rod 0)

Rod likes randomly moving my jacket.  I put it on the back of the spare chair in my cubicle.  But then inevitably, Rod will come in, want to sit on that chair, and will feel compelled to move it.  Each time he has moved it, he has put it in a different place.  Here are the places I have found it:  On my desk.  On the desk in the neighboring (empty) cubicle.  Hanging up on the neighboring, empty cubicle wall. Draped over the arm of my chair.  Placed next to the plant/water station.  Everytime I find it somewhere new, I put it right back where it was.  (Ick Factor +3 that Rod is touching my clothing).  Today, he actually asked about it  "Where should I put this?" as he started heading over towards his cubicle.  "Um, how about on the chair like this?"  I was panicked! I did not want my clothing anywhere near his cube! So I took it and I placed it exactly as it had been and gestured (okay, so I was being somewhat facetious at this point) that he had a nice big spot on the chair to rest his keister.  He said that he wasn't comfortable like that, and again picked it up.  He began placing it on the empty cubicle wall again.  I pointed out then (Some mice just aren't fun to toy with for too long) that he could hang it from my cubicle wall.  Despite his initial confusion about what I was saying, he eventually figured it out.  Yay, Rod!

I think Rod tries hard, but, well, he just wasn't dealt a winning poker hand, y'know? Poor, poor Rod.

As I said, today is a quiet one.  Hopefully these few stories will give you something to chuckle about.

Until next time, Readers!  Don't forget, I am now on Facebook (EyeTee Grrl) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/eyeteegirl), so you can get updates and see comments that don't show up here!

Eye Tee Girl