The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

I arrived at work at 9am and like always, I started working immediately. I actually prefer the hour I get before everyone else shows up than the five while everyone is there. I get a lot more done. I wrote another article on the fly (about the Top Toys of 2012), and filled the rest of the space with Senior Lifestyle news.

There was still the three remaining spots in both Fire Safety and Coloring Contest, as well as the needed approval for the full page ad I made. Misty came in at 10am, and handed me three insertion orders for the Fire Safety pages. Then she work on selling for next week's paper, as well as finishing the coloring contest spaces. I started finalizing the paper (changing it all to pdfs). But, still no back page, and still no Gabby. Iris came in at 11, and that's when Misty and Iris started talking about what to do about the back page. It was Gabby's account, so she had to be the one to call them.

When Gabby finally arrived, all of the peace I had from when I arrived had went away. Gabby and Misty started arguing. And it was all Iris and I could do to stop it from escalating. Iris did most of the mediating at first, because I was still working on the paper. Then when Iris and Misty went to take the deposit in, I was tagged in to smooth things over with Gabby. When Misty left for lunch, Iris and I worked on Gabby together. Then, Gabby left and Misty came back. And we worked on Misty.

What were they arguing about? I really have no clue. It started as a tiff about calling some businesses multiple times, but it ended up somewhere else. Eventually, the office was left to Iris and I. That's when we talked about everything. As we are on the other side of the office, we get called in to mediate. And as I told Iris, it's better that we do it than the owner. I'd hate to have the three of them (Iris, Misty, and Gabby) at each other's throats, because then it falls on me to smooth everything over. I've had three of my closest friends hating each other before, and it is something I don't want to experience again. I felt like I was being pulled in three directions. On a business side of things, it isn't good when your sales people are constantly at odds with each other.

Really though, it makes no difference to me who sells what ad to what business. I don't look at the salesperson's name on the insertion order. All I care about it is getting the order filled by placing a great ad in our paper. But my job will be getting harder. After my route tomorrow, I will not be in the office until Tuesday. Since Pam thinks I can make the paper in two days (ten hours), I will do my best to make the paper in two days. I have the feeling I will be at the office until midnight on Tuesday. I will have five days of E-mails, faxes, and ads to go through to make a paper. As far as the E-mails are concerned, I could go through them at home, but I am not getting paid for it. But I do see myself staying later on Tuesday to get more done. I also see myself getting paid for it if I do.

On my way home, I called Dad to see if he would pick me up at Grandma's. He didn't answer the phone. Why? He and Suzy were hanging out at the garage. I was angry, because it makes having a phone useless if no one answers it when someone important (Me) calls. A little bit ago, Suzy called the phone. I answered, and when she said who it was, I hung up. Then, I went to the living room and told Dad and my brother tomorrow's weather. As I was walking back to my room, the phone started ringing again. I instantly yelled out that I was going to take a shower, walked by the phone as if I couldn't hear it, and took a shower. As soon as I was out of the shower, Dad asked me why I hung up on Suzy. I said, and this is the best answer ever, "Because..." I was rolling over laughing, in my head of course. Then Dad said (ordered) that since he's paying the phone bill, he should get to talk to whoever calls him. I told him that he shouldn't complain about paying it, because I don't use the phone. I didn't say this, but I should've also said that I am not paid to be his receptionist and if he doesn't want me to screen his calls then he should put a phone line up where he can answer the phone himself.

Then he said that Suzy should just come and take the borrowed computer back. I told him to go ahead and do it. I told him several times (since it was lent to me) that I didn't want it in the first place. I am getting my new computer in a couple weeks and can go without computer access until then. Besides, it was his idea to have Suzy bring this overgrown paperwieght filled with pirated movies and music. The only reason they brought it was to keep me from blabbing to the world about their affair. And look what that did, I am literally telling a portion of the world about it. A lot of good their little gift did, huh?

But everything seems fine now. I brought Itsy Bitsy in, and she makes everyone who sees her happy. She is such a lovey-cuddly kitten. She is the kind of kitten that has to be petted when there's someone with the ability to pet her. I brought her in, and the mood shifted 180 degrees to happy sunshine land again!

Well, 5am comes early, so I am heading to bed. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...which for all I know could be when my computer arrives...

Later!

Michael