So I came into the office this morning to find a voicemail already left on my phone at work. In a very kind and warm tone, the message said, “Hi Justin, it’s Carol. Could you give me a call when you get this?.” –click. Oh snappidy! Cue the scary orchestra music.
Carol’s the office manager at my office. And in my opinion, she has the toughest, toughest, toughest job out of anyone here. Part of her job is to listen to everyone’s complaints and address them to the rest of the agency. Which in turn, can sometimes make her look like the bad guy.
But I digress, so instead of talking to her on the phone, I deicided to talk to her face to face. I caught her as she was walking past the basketball court.
“Hi Carol, I’m Justin.” I suddenly felt like I was in elementary school again and was standing in front of the principal. “I’m here because of the voicemail you left for me this morning.”
With a smile she replies “Oh hi Justin! I was just wondering, have you been traveling lately?”
“Traveling? Nope, I haven’t gone anywhere lately.”
“Oh, well. . . do you own more than one car then?”
By this time, I was totally perplexed. And I think Carol was too. “Two cars? No, I still only have the one.”
“Well, is there a reason why your car’s always here so late? I know these things because I get here early, and I can tell when a car’s been here overnight. The reason I ask is because there’s a very limited amount of spaces here, and we can’t afford to have people leave one of their cars here while they commute back and forth with their other car.”
I couldn’t believe it, Carol thought I was just using our parking lot as storage for a spare car. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that at all,” I responded, “see, the lease to my old place ended January 31st, and I can’t move into my new place until February 15th; so in the meantime, I’m just camping out until then.”
I had totally thrown Carol a curve ball. “Oh, so ummmmm... you’ll be gone by the 15th then?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, okay, that’s fine then.” And then she smiled again and walked off.
Yeah I know, I bent the truth a bit, but I was honest about the major stuff. But the most important things was, I had survived a meeting with the principal and had gotten a smile out of it. Now all I have to do is find a new spot to camp out at.
Carol’s the office manager at my office. And in my opinion, she has the toughest, toughest, toughest job out of anyone here. Part of her job is to listen to everyone’s complaints and address them to the rest of the agency. Which in turn, can sometimes make her look like the bad guy.
But I digress, so instead of talking to her on the phone, I deicided to talk to her face to face. I caught her as she was walking past the basketball court.
“Hi Carol, I’m Justin.” I suddenly felt like I was in elementary school again and was standing in front of the principal. “I’m here because of the voicemail you left for me this morning.”
With a smile she replies “Oh hi Justin! I was just wondering, have you been traveling lately?”
“Traveling? Nope, I haven’t gone anywhere lately.”
“Oh, well. . . do you own more than one car then?”
By this time, I was totally perplexed. And I think Carol was too. “Two cars? No, I still only have the one.”
“Well, is there a reason why your car’s always here so late? I know these things because I get here early, and I can tell when a car’s been here overnight. The reason I ask is because there’s a very limited amount of spaces here, and we can’t afford to have people leave one of their cars here while they commute back and forth with their other car.”
I couldn’t believe it, Carol thought I was just using our parking lot as storage for a spare car. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that at all,” I responded, “see, the lease to my old place ended January 31st, and I can’t move into my new place until February 15th; so in the meantime, I’m just camping out until then.”
I had totally thrown Carol a curve ball. “Oh, so ummmmm... you’ll be gone by the 15th then?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, okay, that’s fine then.” And then she smiled again and walked off.
Yeah I know, I bent the truth a bit, but I was honest about the major stuff. But the most important things was, I had survived a meeting with the principal and had gotten a smile out of it. Now all I have to do is find a new spot to camp out at.