Big Event in Review (Part 1)
The Event of the Year is over.
You may have noticed that I was pretty quiet last week. Let me tell you a bit about that.
Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal days, though the frenzied state of the office increased by the hour. We had an extra person helping us keep up. While the three of us scurried to try to get details into place, Sly answered phones, ran copies, and opened mail, among other things. This was a tremendous help, for without her, I would never have been ready for Saturday. It was also good for her, since it gave her the inside track on everything. You see, she runs the Info Booth at The Event.
Wednesday was decidedly not normal. We all worked straight through the day. There was just too much to do. Lunch was eaten at the desks, if at all. Supervisor brought crackers. I brought chips and guacamole. Sly left shortly after 5. At 6, the rest of us were still there. We took the wheel that measures things, and we walked the length of the street that we planned to use for The Event, measuring it so we'd know how to space the layout. We stopped at the local Italian place, which is run by a family from India, and worked out logistics over dinner (for which the Chamber picked up the tab). We stopped at the 99 cent store for goofy door prizes for Thursday. Then we marked the streets.
My job in preparation for The Event is to find crafters to sell their items in the street fair section. Our goal on Wednesday night was to mark where each booth would be. On a street open for traffic, and at 9 pm, this was no easy task. We had a pvc pipe form that measured for us, spray cans of white chalk, and good walking shoes. So while The Boss posted No Parking signs, Supervisor and I sprayed chalk-paint along both sides of the street. And all over our own jeans. And shoes. The center row was a bit trickier. For that, we had The Boss follow us down the middle of the street in his car with lights flashing.
At one point, Supervisor was at Boss's car talking to him, and I was trying to get stuff done. It was about 11 pm by then. I stepped on the pipe to try to move it down, while still measuring the space, my foot slid, and I crashed onto the asphalt. I think I slightly dislodged my hip in the fall, but otherwise, I was fine. We finally wrapped things up and I got home at 11:30.
Thursday morning was our monthly breakfast, so we were at work at 7 am. Yeehaw! Supervisor and I could barely walk from all the work of the previous night. It was another work-through-lunch day, and at the end of the day came the annual Western Days/Rodeo mixer. Dinner was on the Hyundai dealership that hosted. Meanwhile, Supervisor was marking spaces for the Food Court and Business Expo. We all got off work at 7:15 Thursday night.
I met my predecessor-neighbor at the park at 6:30 Friday morning. The marking of the Powwow was done by 8 am. By noon, we all had serious cabin fever. Not one of us stayed around for lunch. The Boss and Supervisor left first, and I held down the fort while Sly took a break. About that moment, an old woman, probably about 75-80, came to the door. Our door is remarkably difficult to open, so Charles, who happened to be in for a few minutes, opened it for her. She walked in fuming.
When are you open! Why is your door locked! There was definite ire in her tone. Why is there a camper in your parking lot!
Well, The Event of the Year is this weekend, and we have a guy from out of town helping us, and that's where he parks.
Well, it's not fair! Those spaces should be kept open! I was lucky that I found a spot. (You found a spot? Then what the crap are you so angry about?) She spoke not a word in five minutes but what she spoke in anger. She was angry that I couldn't help her. She was angry that the Historical Society doesn't work on Fridays. If they had been, she probably would have been angry about having to go upstairs. I told her that they'd have a booth on the street all weekend.
Oh, I don't go to that. I have too much else to do. I managed not to unleash on her the string of expletives that wanted badly to escape. By the time she left, my blood was boiling.
I should point out at this point that we have a grand total of 6 parking spaces, one of which is painted blue. Any day that the Historical Society is in or we have a meeting, the lot is full. On Friday, it was filled with Bob's trailer and several golf carts that we were borrowing for the weekend. We were all parked next door or across the street.
When I got back from my lunch, I found a note from Sly on my desk. She thought it would be funny to tell me that one of my vendors wanted a last minute relocation in the layout. I may have half screamed. Again, I was able to withhold the expletives. Barely.
Supervisor asked me at one point to step into the conference room. This made me nervous. But she told me that I had been doing a very good job so far. Yeehaw!
At 7 pm, the copier went on strike. We weren't done with it, but it was not willing to reconsider or compromise. I had to resort to sending cardstock through my printer. I finally was off work at 7:45, with another hour or so of prep work to do at home.
----------------
Now playing: Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
via FoxyTunes
You may have noticed that I was pretty quiet last week. Let me tell you a bit about that.
Monday and Tuesday were relatively normal days, though the frenzied state of the office increased by the hour. We had an extra person helping us keep up. While the three of us scurried to try to get details into place, Sly answered phones, ran copies, and opened mail, among other things. This was a tremendous help, for without her, I would never have been ready for Saturday. It was also good for her, since it gave her the inside track on everything. You see, she runs the Info Booth at The Event.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday was decidedly not normal. We all worked straight through the day. There was just too much to do. Lunch was eaten at the desks, if at all. Supervisor brought crackers. I brought chips and guacamole. Sly left shortly after 5. At 6, the rest of us were still there. We took the wheel that measures things, and we walked the length of the street that we planned to use for The Event, measuring it so we'd know how to space the layout. We stopped at the local Italian place, which is run by a family from India, and worked out logistics over dinner (for which the Chamber picked up the tab). We stopped at the 99 cent store for goofy door prizes for Thursday. Then we marked the streets.
My job in preparation for The Event is to find crafters to sell their items in the street fair section. Our goal on Wednesday night was to mark where each booth would be. On a street open for traffic, and at 9 pm, this was no easy task. We had a pvc pipe form that measured for us, spray cans of white chalk, and good walking shoes. So while The Boss posted No Parking signs, Supervisor and I sprayed chalk-paint along both sides of the street. And all over our own jeans. And shoes. The center row was a bit trickier. For that, we had The Boss follow us down the middle of the street in his car with lights flashing.
At one point, Supervisor was at Boss's car talking to him, and I was trying to get stuff done. It was about 11 pm by then. I stepped on the pipe to try to move it down, while still measuring the space, my foot slid, and I crashed onto the asphalt. I think I slightly dislodged my hip in the fall, but otherwise, I was fine. We finally wrapped things up and I got home at 11:30.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday morning was our monthly breakfast, so we were at work at 7 am. Yeehaw! Supervisor and I could barely walk from all the work of the previous night. It was another work-through-lunch day, and at the end of the day came the annual Western Days/Rodeo mixer. Dinner was on the Hyundai dealership that hosted. Meanwhile, Supervisor was marking spaces for the Food Court and Business Expo. We all got off work at 7:15 Thursday night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I met my predecessor-neighbor at the park at 6:30 Friday morning. The marking of the Powwow was done by 8 am. By noon, we all had serious cabin fever. Not one of us stayed around for lunch. The Boss and Supervisor left first, and I held down the fort while Sly took a break. About that moment, an old woman, probably about 75-80, came to the door. Our door is remarkably difficult to open, so Charles, who happened to be in for a few minutes, opened it for her. She walked in fuming.
When are you open! Why is your door locked! There was definite ire in her tone. Why is there a camper in your parking lot!
Well, The Event of the Year is this weekend, and we have a guy from out of town helping us, and that's where he parks.
Well, it's not fair! Those spaces should be kept open! I was lucky that I found a spot. (You found a spot? Then what the crap are you so angry about?) She spoke not a word in five minutes but what she spoke in anger. She was angry that I couldn't help her. She was angry that the Historical Society doesn't work on Fridays. If they had been, she probably would have been angry about having to go upstairs. I told her that they'd have a booth on the street all weekend.
Oh, I don't go to that. I have too much else to do. I managed not to unleash on her the string of expletives that wanted badly to escape. By the time she left, my blood was boiling.
I should point out at this point that we have a grand total of 6 parking spaces, one of which is painted blue. Any day that the Historical Society is in or we have a meeting, the lot is full. On Friday, it was filled with Bob's trailer and several golf carts that we were borrowing for the weekend. We were all parked next door or across the street.
When I got back from my lunch, I found a note from Sly on my desk. She thought it would be funny to tell me that one of my vendors wanted a last minute relocation in the layout. I may have half screamed. Again, I was able to withhold the expletives. Barely.
Supervisor asked me at one point to step into the conference room. This made me nervous. But she told me that I had been doing a very good job so far. Yeehaw!
At 7 pm, the copier went on strike. We weren't done with it, but it was not willing to reconsider or compromise. I had to resort to sending cardstock through my printer. I finally was off work at 7:45, with another hour or so of prep work to do at home.
----------------
Now playing: Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour
via FoxyTunes
Labels: Work
posted by Sam Gamgee at
10:08 AM
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