Friday's Froth

I really wanted to post this yesterday but yesterday turned out to be a lost day which is quite rare for a Friday. We spent the morning working on the projects statistics which kept us busy and we wanted to have the data ready to submit for inspection by noon. But the phone calls just kept tumbling in. Not a million calls but calls which took a lot of time and thought, the last kind of calls I want to deal with on a Friday morning.

I was late getting up and out to the train but I was still first in to the office and I started my routine, in through the back door, up to the front turn on the lights unlock the front door and in to my office where I shuck my hat, gloves, two coats, flip on my system and allow the system to boot to the “pass word” screens” log in ad then head back to the kitchen and start coffee. I only make six cups today not expecting Tory-who is the only other coffee drinker in the office. I was going through my emails private and work emails when I heard the front door open and soon three laborers were standing in the door way to my office. The looked gruffy but OK. Then they asked if this was the Council office. The most burley, obvious the head guy informed me that the were there to look at the kitchen floor something about a split in the kitchen floor. He sounded like he was a cop following on a lead about a fictitious murder and was just their to get the boss off his back. My mind “clicked” and remembered the females of the staff standing round the new “linolioum job” we had done in the kitchen before Christmas. The seam was pulling part and the women were aghast they stood their arms folded under their breasts looking like they were staring a corpse outlined in chalk, clucking their tongues and wagging their heads in disbelief in disbelief of the shoddy work.

Now the three “floor guys” were standing round the same split looking like they wanted to mark off the whole area in yellow crime scene tape. I replied “yup” the women of the office were upset but I did not understand the commotion. I left them to their considerations and job and returned to my desk to finish my morning rituals.

I reached absently for my coffee mug and realized I still had not got coffee, realizing about fifteen minutes has passed since starting the brewing process-the coffee should be well done but now. I rarely wait this long to get my coffee. When I got back to the coffee pot , the boys were busy working on the parting seam: two kneeling down over the offensive crack spreading goop into and over the wound then scraping the goop and pressing the would closed. Burly one supervised. I then noticed the coffee pot, I had to look twice! There should have been a half a pot of coffee sitting there waiting for me. There was not! There was about half a cup sitting in the pot. They boys had helped themselves to my coffee. They had filled their thermal cups up to the top as if they deserved it or something. I drained the rest of the pot and turned off the machine and zipped back to my office to finish my morning ritual.

I was amazed! I was even more amazed that everyone I told just shrugged off the event from “ what are you gonna do? to So, they deserve it, just brew another pot. The event still kind of freaks me out but I have moved on another life’s lesson learnt never mess with the utility guys they run the world.