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Friday was an embarrassing and weird day for me, for 3 reasons. Even though these things were really embarrassing at the time, looking back, they all seem funny now!

Telephone Trauma!

The first stupid thing happened at about 11am at work. Just a bit of background info: our team is spread out over 2 floors of the office (half of us, including myself, sit on Floor 5, whereas the other half sit on Floor 6). My colleague, who sits on the desk next to me, had recently arranged for some software to be installed for a girl who sits upstairs.

His phone rang, and because he was away from his desk at the time, and I am the nearest person, I had to pick it up and take a message. It turned out to be a man from the IT department, and he asked if he could speak to the colleague who sits next to me. When I explained that he was away from his desk, the man then asked if he could speak to the girl the installation is for (ie the Floor 6 colleague). As our company is very large, hardly anyone knows each other, so it was very unlikely the IT man knew that our team is spread over 2 floors, as he doesn’t actually know any of us personally. So I just said to the man, “I’m afraid she is sitting on the floor upstairs, but I can take a message for her if you like.” As soon as I’d said it, I immediately realised that what I’d just said was a double-entendre, and I felt so stupid! The IT man then replied, in a serious sounding voice, “Well, I hope that’s not too uncomfortable for her!”

AAARRGGHH!! I was absolutely mortified!! I know he was probably just trying to humour me, but for the rest of the phone call, I felt uptight. When the man told me his phone number, I wrote it down, and read it back to him to check I’d written it correctly. He repeated it, and I’d got a couple of the digits the wrong way round! The man must have thought I was really stupid! But at least I did manage to get the message to my colleague upstairs! And I’ll probably never have to speak to that man again, as there are hundreds of staff in the IT department anyway!

That’s the main reason why I don’t really like answering the phone, as you have no idea who it’s going to be, and no time to prepare your response. You have to think on the spot. Now I’ve thought about it, I should have said to the man, “She is based on another floor”, rather than, “She is sitting on the floor upstairs”!!!!

Cafe Calamity!

Then, when lunchtime arrived, that was when the second embarrassing event took place! As I’m such a fussy eater, there are times when I don’t like the meals in the staff canteen (the menu changes daily), so I go to a cafe in the city instead. The cafe I visited was a bit busier than usual. I was intending to buy a brunch pot and a bottle of orange juice, and these are available from an open glass cabinet near the counters (that’s what I usually buy when I go there). When the assistant asked me what I would like, I still hadn’t managed to pick up my 2 items, due to the crowding. So I grabbed my brunch pot, and as I was about to reach out for my orange juice bottle, I said to the assistant, “I’d just like these, please.” But, instead of reaching for the orange juice bottle, my hand somehow jerked out and knocked over these 2 bottles of Orangina (a fizzy orange drink). And the worst thing is, unlike most other drinks, Orangina comes in glass bottles! I watched in horror as the bottles toppled over, and I expected them to smash on the floor behind the counter, when the assistant grinned and said, “You haven’t done it this time!” I was so relieved, as it turned out there was a pane of glass at the back of the cabinet, which had stopped the bottles from crashing to the floor. The assistant then put the bottles back upright, totally unharmed. I still felt really embarrassed though.

Bus bother!

In the evening, on the bus home, this strange old lady sat down on the seat next to me. She was muttering furiously to herself – I couldn’t make out a word she was saying, but I know she definitely wasn’t talking to me, nor to anyone else, for that matter. I felt silly, and just stared out of the window, pretending not to notice. Luckily, at the next stop, another passenger (who had a window seat on the other side of the aisle) got off, so the lady got up and sat there instead.

With the new season just around the corner, I thought I’d give my site a bit of a revamp.  I’ve spent part of the evening searching for new themes, and I’ve also finally got round to installing a Theme Switcher, which is something I have been meaning to do for months! The new default “LimeLite” template, although simple, offers a nice refreshing look.  For some reason, the theme switcher doesn’t seem to work if I use a drop-down menu to list all the different themes, so I’m having to use an ordinary list instead – not that it really bothers me much though.

At the moment, my Dad, step-Mum and baby sister Jasmine are in holiday in Malta for 2 weeks.  I didn’t go because I had already booked 2 different holidays with my Mum and sisters for this year, and there’s a limit to the number of days I am allowed off work.

The weather is still very cold here, so we haven’t really been able to do anything too exciting, although some Saturdays, Mum, Terry and I go on walks by the riverside.  Not sure what we’ll do this weekend though, because it’s supposed to rain and Mum is working on Sunday morning.  Mum is hoping that she will soon be allowed to take on more hours at her typist’s job so she will be able to give up her chambermaid job at the hotel, which would mean she will have the weekends free.