The Orange Apron
It’s daylight savings time so everyone has lost an hour of sleep and it’s a dreary day; perfect for laying down on a sofa, turning off the lights and watching an old movie with hot chocolate and a huge warm poofy blanket.
Where am I?
Working my last day at Home Depot and sleeping on my feet!
Kinda reminds me why I am going with Tim on this trip.
My orange apron is highlighted spectacularly against the blue pants and grey shirt I am wearing….not that anyone is noticing since all the customers are still in bed at home. Home Depot tunes play softly in the background until interrupted by the blaring ads punctuated with the home depot theme music that strikes fear into my brain when I relive my day in dreams that night. Fellow co-workers are milling around trying to look busy since they have to/wish to keep their jobs. I am sitting at the desk in a warm stupor waiting for the caffeine to kick in. Some customers begin to trickle in and they are in a bad mood from sleep deprivation and from having to come here on a day better fit for hibernation than for fix it duty. Time, the snooty trollop, doesn’t seem to move at all.
It’s 3pm and I have 3 hours left. If I wasn’t going on this trip, I’d ask one of my nasty customers to shoot me in the foot so I could leave the building early.
Why do I stay if it’s my last day you ask?
Because tomorrow I am having a root canal done on a traitorous tooth (2 years from now, I will have its head cut off [crowned]) and insurance will die if I “quit”.
Enter Susie, a fun coworker, who, behind my back, gets donations from all of the floor and wall department to go and get Tiramasu and specialty brownies for a SECRET MEETING in the break room. I was just wondering in my somnambulant state why they would require me to be there since I am leaving in less than 3 hours. I figure it out just before I get to the break room. Management has been very leniently liberal in my goodbye week. Cupcakes on the sales floor (thanks Carey). Bar-B-Que chicken wings in the training room (thanks Geri). Gifts and Cards (thanks all of you) and now a feeding frenzy. We must have spent a good 1 ½ hours of work time celebrating my imminent departure.
Wait a minute….Why is everyone celebrating my leaving?!!
Just kidding.
They have all said they want me to stay. Even management gave me an “outstanding” review just before I left. I asked the human resources guy if that was just a manipulation to get me to stay. He said “no, it is an acknowledgement of your work at the home and patio show (I was on stage teaching 4 hours a day) and your work on our sales floor.”
Now I know why I considered this one of my favorite jobs and why I stayed so long.
Miss you coworkers.
See you later.
Dan
Tags: Dan, last day, Pre-Trip, work
timdan2
I am just now getting around to reading all your blogs, and I must say they are very entertaining so far. Work isn’t the same without you, well actually it is the same boring, tedious crap, but I miss your laugh.
I’m so jealous of you and Tim. I think I’ll make my husband read your blogs, and perhaps it will inspire him to take a leave of absence so that we can travel.
Give Jake a hug for me – he’s adorable!