It's For You

In case anyone is wondering, I changed the font color this week from this to this because Baltimore is painting the town purple in support of the Ravens!

It's been a long time since I worked at 911, and I worked there for a long, long time. So long, in fact, that when I began, the number to call was CMXI!

But seriously, folks. 911 is an odd place to work, if only because the hours tend to be slightly irregular. Nights, weekends, holidays, snow days, ballgame days, relatives' birthdays - 911 is always open and staffed (which might have been a surprise to the occasional caller who'd call just before midnight, and when the operator answered, they would say "Oh! You're still open!")

The way it worked when I was there, every couple of weeks, your "weekend" changed. Meaning, you'd be off Sunday and Monday for a while, and then Saturday and Sunday, and then Friday and Saturday, and on down the line. The worst thing of all was when your "days" were Wednesday and Thursday, because then your Monday was everyone else's Friday, and what's worse than hearing all that TGIF commotion all around you when, inside, you're moaning OMGIM?

But...being off during the day, and going to work early in the morning so as to be home in the afternoon, pays off in one way known only to those who live by odd hours: participation in the grand game known as "Surprise 'Em!"

You know how you get home at dinner time and go through the phone messages: the entreaties from charities, the reminders from doctors, dentists and massage parlors about your upcoming appointments, and notifications from Barnes and Noble that the book ("My Top 10 Sure-Fire Diet Tips" by O. Winfrey) you ordered has arrived? The people from whom you've received messages all called, hoping like crazy that you weren't home! They have a standard script that they follow, and they rattle it off with great ease. They call, get your machine, wait for the beep, and they're off to the races.

Until. Someone. Answers.

Then it's "Oh! HELL-oooooo! Didn't think anyone was home!!! (flustered, flustered, what did I want to tell him? Oh yeah...) This is the law firm of Brown and Serve, calling to remind you, you have an appointment to have your will revised this 11 am at Friday...oh I mean this Friday at 11 am...ok then; we'll see you then!" (hang up hang up! before he asks any questions!)

It's often been pointed out that it doesn't take much to amuse me. The preceding was offered as a case in point.