So I was recently voted in as a worker-owner at Equal Exchange (I think it was in February for my one year anniversary - I can't believe it's been one year!). This was a great moment and it's pretty cool that I am now a co-owner of a $35 million company. I get a share of the profit, eventually a trip to source, voting rights, 401K, etc. I also got my one year review at this time and one of the comments from a close peer was that it seemed like there were daily catastrophes in my life, not always work-related, and that I needed improvement in this area cause it was disruptive. Well it's not that I totally disagree and I did get the name Train Wreck in college for a reason, but Ialso had some particularly bad luck right around my worker-ownership vote and one year review. For example, probably 2 or 3 coffee mugs flying off my desk after the the corner of whatever piece of clothing I was wearing smacked it as I turned to run to catch the van at the end of the day leaving in one minute (I am in a van pool for work and it leaves with or without you). Being late to a few too many times didn't help, and of course, there was the time a few weeks ago when I suddenly remembered last minute that my flight out of Logan was an hour before I thought it was and I somehow made a flight that I got to the airport 15 minutes before it was leaving after running from bus, to subway, to shuttle, to gate and arguing with baggage assholes for 10 minuts about my carry-on being too large (I did eventually get it on btw). I would say that I usually have good excuses, but I guess when this happens often enough it doesn't matter.
For awhile I've haven't been finding the time to write about these sometimes ridiculous events that I think some people might find humorous but today presented another chance:
It being the second day of Pesach (Passover), I was celebrating at my aunts an hour or so outside Boston. The reason why I didn't have my car and I was stuck at work at 5:15 running around trying to figure out how I was going to get there by 6 (I didn't have time to go back home to get my car as it was 45 minutes w/out trafffic to get there) is not even worth telling as somehow I always get myself into these situations. Needless to say, I would have pretty much missed passover if it hadn't been for a friend/co-worker who let me borrow the Equal Exchange events van (this was probably illegal) and told me "GOOOOO!!" So here I am running late (always running late), in this ridiculously colored farmer/artisan coffee van (think large multi-colored bath tub) trying to get through Boston rush hour traffic while (this is true) 1 - my GPS has run out of batteries (at least I am trying here, got the GPS for Chanukah a few months back) 2 - my cell phone is dying and I don't have directions 3 - and I am really stressing because my friend forgot to mention that the van had no gas. After quite a bit of sweaty armpits, I somehow make it 40 minutes late to my aunt's sedar with car still intact.
So the ridiculous part is that I was like the second person there! I should have known - my family is actually worse than me at being on time (really just my mom's side). So they finally show up an HOUR LATER!! and we start the Sedar but of course my aunt has these guide books from the 1950's - "Maxwell House Presents the Passover Sedar" filled with ridiculous adds for Kosher Maxwell House coffee. The language in these books was incoherent and noone really took it seriously (I always find it weird doing things like this with my family since it seems like we're always praying for God and most people in my family have never professed any belief in God -?)
Anyways, the night ended fine but this daily catastrophie stuff really does need to improve. At least for the time management thing, one suggestion from my brother has been to start enacting the
fudge ratio but the rest of the world might just have to put up with me. It's all in the adjectives you use: loveable, goofy, fun, unpredictable OR unreliable, careless, clumsy, lacking foresight/common sense, whatever
