What a fucking crazy day.

I woke up late this morning. Knowing I was already late, I decided to sleep a little later and go in for the afternoon. Whatever, it’s a crap job and I don’t really care.

But I still get nervous going in late. All the days I’ve called in bored sick, come in late, they’ve never said much of anything. Certainly nothing about me not coming in. They have mentioned the lateness but only in passing. Every time I go in significantly late, I’m worried about being fired. Maybe this will be the time they finally say something and fire me. Hell, I’d fire me. Sure I’m a great worker when I’m there but… seriously. Since laying me off last year and failing to give me raises when they should have, it’s a question of motivation. I know hard work won’t pay off so there’s no reason to try.

Whatever.

So I go into work after lunch today, nervous that I’ll be fired. My supervisor, Joe, he doesn’t care. He’s just glad I’m there so I can listen to his stories about how he might have kidney stones (which would suck, btw). So after about twenty minutes, I finally get to work and a co-worker tells me this woman from the office wants to talk to me.

Shitty.

Except maybe not. Remember ‘Office Space’?

Michael Bolton: You haven’t even been showing up for work, and you got to keep your job?
Peter Gibbons: Actually I’m being promoted.

Seriously, she offers me a job working in the office. Salary pay, fewer hours, same benefits. It’s a 13-month contract thing and the pay isn’t great but it’s significantly more than I get now. It’s a customer service job, working the school side of things. It would be a good opportunity to learn new things and I’m bored of what I’m doing now.

This woman, Colleen, was originally just going to ask me if I was interested and then go post an ad in the paper but after some talking, she went ahead and offered me the job. It was mine if I wanted it. I told her I’d want a little time to think about it and she understood.

Colleen drove me to Plant 1 where I talked to the current person holding the job, Nicole. She’s going on maternity and her last day was supposed to be tomorrow. However the girl Nicole has been training for five months to take over for her quit yesterday. She got a late acceptance to a grad program and gave them her… three days notice. So now Nicole is staying an extra week to train the new person… potentially me.

After talking to Nicole about the job, Colleen gave me a tour of Plant 1 (since I hadn’t had one before) and then I went back to Plant 2, where I talked to my supervisor (Joe) for a while about it. He’s excited for me but hates that he spent so long training me to be an asset to his patio department, only to have me stolen away to the office.

While driving back to Plant 1, Colleen told me that Joe had told her I had a problem with my attendance and she said herself that it was probably just a question of me not being challenged enough. I’m not just trying to quote ‘Office Space’ - this is actually what she said to me.

Colleen herself has been away on maternity for the past 10 months and starts back on Tuesday, so she gave me her home phone number and asked me to call her tomorrow or tonight with my decision. So I came home, talked to Ryan about it before he took off to drive stuff to his parents’ place, called Laura and told her and Shawn (who had just arrived home) simultaneously and then called Colleen to tell her I’d accept the job.

But what fucking timing. I move tomorrow to a place that is less than a two-minute walk from Plant 2, and then start work Tuesday (yeah, I start the new job on Tuesday) at Plant 1, which I would have been closer to at my original living location. Ridiculous.

I picked up the key from my landlord tonight and began moving some boxes over. Just a couple loads tonight and the rest will be tomorrow.

To Shawn, moving is just an extended lunch break from work (Wednesday) and then an evening activity before he goes out drinking (tonight) with his new friends. Meanwhile, Ryan and I were continuing to do our moving stuff.

But I’ve said my goodbyes to Shawn and Ryan now. Ryan and his dad had returned around 11pm to pick up another load of his stuff. They said they’d get the rest of it but it seemed like a lot left to fit into their van.

I didn’t expect to feel anything leaving 511 but driving to Laura’s parents’ place I was pretty sad. Sure it’s just a place to live, but it was my home for many years. My parents’ place, that’s not home - their town isn’t even home; it’s just the place where I grew up. 511 Albert had been my home for over three years. I had really moved in and entrenched myself there. Then, living with Shawn and Ryan was great. Now I’ll be living on my own.

Sure, I’m looking forward to aspects of it, but it’ll also be very lonesome on my own. I also don’t know when I’ll get to see these guys again. Ryan in a couple weeks at pre-wedding events and Shawn… I’ll live in the same city but he’ll always be busy with his new, more fun friends. It seems unlikely that I’ll see him much in the next many months.

In slightly more positive news, Shawn didn’t come home last night. Apparently he stayed over at some girl’s place, whom he met last night. If I gave you a

*wink wink*
*nudge nudge*

Would you know what I mean?

waiting for an opportunity to step in front of me