Hi ho

I've been dreading this day for a week. Today was the first day back to work after a delicious, restful TWO WEEK holiday! Work makes me sad and stressed and tired and for sixteen whole days I didn't have to worry about it at all. Instead I slept and read and ate and drank and talked and slept some more. And then ate more. Oh, and I don't think I really stopped drinking.

Nevertheless, I managed to haul my ass out of bed this morning (after pressing snooze a mere 5 times!) and I walked through the freezing cold to face reality — unless I want to sell my body on the streets, I need to work. Sigh.

But (surprise) it wasn't that bad! I got to chat with people I haven't seen in a while and hear about their family drama and falling-down Christmas trees. And what made it all worth while is that I got to have the following two conversations.


Conversation #1

The scene: Nat and her friend Brett are discussing what they did on their summer Christmas vacation.

Brett: I saw Doubt during the holidays. It's a pretty good film. You can tell it's been adapted from a play because it's very dialogue-oriented, but the pacing was good.

Nat: I saw Marley and Me. It was light but it sure made me cry. A lot. Not that that's tough to do.

Brett: But you're a cat person!

Nat: That's why I was crying. When Owen gave Jen a puppy I was thinking, "A dog? Noooooo! Think of the cats! Think! Of! The! Cats!

Brett: Sounds terrifying.

Nat: It was.


Conversation #2

And then there was this double-entendre-laden conversation about our upcoming bonuses, which brings us full circle back to the title of today's post. Some days I think I'm pretty clever.

Nat: "Pay For Performance"? Sounds...interesting.

Steve: I don't think it means what you're thinking.

Nat: Too bad. Betchya I'd make around...$1.50!

Steve: Oh, at least. I'd probably owe someone some change.

Nat: Don't sell yourself short. I imagine you'd get at least 98¢.

Steve: Hey now — quit exaggerating.

Nat: Okay, then. 93¢.

Steve: Maybe.

(What makes these conversations even better is that they both happened over our internal online, for-work-only chat program. This means that they are recorded and stored FOREVER! Or however long companies store techie stuff.)