Awesome Day

Tuesday was pretty amazing. But first I'll back up a bit.

The CA job (which I plan to post more about at the end of the summer) has been an extremely intense experience. Something of a combination of a challenging learning experience, a fun alternative to farm work, and an enormous amount of stress.

Things had been going relatively well in early July, although I was pretty tired and ready for a break. So on the 15th I was very happy to have made it to my week of vacation. I went home and relaxed, read some books etc. It was great. I returned that Sunday refreshed and eager to finish out the summer strong. It was like a blind man walking into a tornado.

Things had NOT been going well the week I was gone. My supervisor, who was already very stressed, had been taking out said stress on the team of CAs. Apparently angry emails were sent, the team was disgruntled, etc. But then the topper came that a group of boys basketball campers had accidentally been locked out of the HUB during their dinner time. Stories vary, but something along the lines of "nobody had been scheduled to run info. desk that day" and "there was a mistake in the Lock/Unlock schedule" seems to have happened. Now, being stupid high school boys, they did not do the common-sensical thing and call one of the phone numbers that we have plastered all over campus. No. They ordered pizza. So while Sodexo was waiting for these 14 players to come and get their dinner, they called a place and payed extra money for a dinner that they had essentially already payed for. Their coach didn't even hear about it until the next day when he asked them how their dinner was, so of course we knew nothing about it. And then our supervisor found out and her already thin-worn patience (actually I'm not sure if there was any left) snapped.

Enter Heidi. I just happened to arrive on the morning after she had found out about this blunder. I was a little mystified when she walked in and didn't even acknowledge my existence. Usually she asks how the weekend was etc. and here I had been gone for a whole week and not even a "good morning." We all sat down in the meeting room and all hell broke loose. Suffice it to say that it was the worst chewing out I've ever received in my entire life and that includes the times when I've been in serious trouble with my parents. I would say that it crossed the line more than a little bit, especially considering many of us had had time off directly preceding that day and could have in no way been involved. I won't go on about what I thought/think of her decision to call a meeting when she was so angry or her lack of self-monitoring when speaking (read: screaming hysterically) at us. She told us that if we didn't think we could handle the job, we should just quit right then, as we all stared on in disbelief. But absolutely nobody was happy and suffice it to say I was kind of wishing I had stayed at home. I was especially sorry for the people who had been working, because they had been working extra hard to "avoid getting yelled at." Not good. Not good at all.

Fast forward a week later. Things calmed down although a general atmosphere of discontent still prevailed. I had the sneaking suspicion that our boss still not-so-secretly resented us. The usual Tuesday meeting was being held, Tuesday being the day when the entire staff is supposed to work. We again looked on in disbelief as our supervisor explained that she had been thinking and decided that today would be a CA Guys' fun day. She procured a $20 bill, told them that they would go downtown for the day, they could do anything (legal) that they wanted and buy whatever they wanted with the money. The only conditions were that they take a memorable picture and that there would be a contest between the guys and girls memorable pictures when the girls had their fun day next week. I was confused. She later confessed that she wanted to let the girls go first, but really wanted to get rid of the guys. Fair enough. They are a little loud at times. That is, they like to play their music in the office at somewhat unprofessional levels and it is a little annoying at times.

So the guys left, the girls stayed for a quiet day and all was well.

And that is what set up my awesome Tuesday. Because the next Tuesday was also the last day that every CA would be working on the same day, due to vacations and things. So it happened to be the day of our "end of year" celebration. It also happened to be the day of our Sodexo luncheon.

Schedule of Events
8:30 a.m. - depart for Greenbluff
9:15 to 11:30ish - Amazing fun times at Greenbluff taking pictures, which can be seen on Facebook.
11:30 - 12:15 - return to campus.
12:15 to 1:3o - visit the guy's houses and take stalkerish pictures in front of them/in their rooms/with their housemates/with their host mom... Look for B-Rob to see if we can get a picture with him and find out he is out of town. Go down to the Little Spokane River and take pictures while nervously eyeing the two men in a truck who were probably smoking marijuana.
1:30 - lunch with Sodexo staff Jim, Jess, and Dan at Twiggs. Their treat. I had the Salmon Briee sandwich. It was most excellent. Dan finished everyone's unfinished food.
3:00ish - head to Northtown to try on pretty dresses, or in my case feel extremely uncomfortable and watch other people try on pretty dresses. Shopping = not my favorite.
4:00 - FedEx Kinko's stop where we print our pictures after finally persuading the lady working their to refill the machines with paper for us. Not the best customer service I've ever seen.
5:00 - Back to Duvall to work on amazing collage that will blow the boys' picture slideshow out of the water.
6:45 - Dress up.
7:15 - Depart for the Melting Pot
8:00 - Try to find the Melting Pot. Pass Morihiko Nakahara on the street. Walk in circles like idiots.
8:15 - Arrive at the Melting Pot. Eat amazing chocolate fondue. Presentation of awards. I received a miniature stick horse for my supposed work ethic and the fact that I am a farm girl. I have named him "My Little Pony Suck-It-Up" so that the next time a conferee asks us to turn on the air-conditioning in Warren we can respond "there is no AC in Warren," and smack them with said pony while saying "suck it up."

All in all it was a pretty awesome day.