Purely hypothetical...
Imagine it's a Friday afternoon and you're just sitting at your desk at work trying to crunch some numbers. It's not the best way to spend a Friday, but, let's face it, working Monday through Friday is one of the best ways to afford spending your weekend!
Suddenly you hear the mystical "Blrlrlrlrling!" That annoying sound that tells you you've just received an e-mail. You go to open said e-mail and realize that it is in fact a calendar appointment message type thingy typically sent to you by a supervisor to notify you, and automatically update your calendar, about a meeting you are expected to attend. The C.A.M.T.T. (calendar appointment message type thingy) is for a staff meeting at the corporate office (750+ miles away) on the following Wednesday.
You slyly reply to the sender, who is in fact most likely the head of your department for the company, "Hey, I think this appointment was sent to me accidentally. Or am I really supposed to be up there by next Wednesday? LOL!" About 15 minutes later you hear that same obnoxious e-mail noise that says you just got another email and so you read the email. It simply says "I think so."
WHAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!
Within seconds, the person playing the part of "The Boss (not to be confused with Bruce Springsteen)" in your workplace walks into your office and says "How ya' doing?" To which you reply, "Do you know if I'm supposed to be at corporate by Wednesday?" Dumbfounded, the person looks back at you and says "I think I'm supposed to be there in a few weeks. I didn't know about you. I'll look into it and let you know more as soon as I do."
Then you finish out your Friday at work and go home to have a weekend not knowing anything about your week to come.
Sunday morning at 8:30 you think to yourself, "hmmmmm... I wonder if...." and then you decide to check your work e-mail from home. You see it! An e-mail sent at roughly 5 am, from the person from your office and it basically says "Yup, it looks like we're both headed up and we're going to leave Tuesday AM. By the way, if we do it, we're driving. I'll know for sure Monday!"
WHAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!
Sooooo, the first thing you do is message your ex-spouse to arrange for your child for the week. Of course, the ex is most likely not buying the whole "I may or may not be going to such and such a place at such and such a time" as it sounds ridiculous, but it's what you have to do! So you feel like a lunatic dealing with that.
Other than that, all you can do on Sunday is pack. At which point you realize you need to do a load of laundry and you need to take a lot of shirts to the cleaners (because, you're lazy and bad at ironing). So you do that load of laundry and put your shirts for the cleaners in a big pile in your living room. The Dog is so stoked thinking "NEW BED!!!"
The rest is up to Monday.
So Monday morning, you drop your child off at school and then rush to the cleaners and drop off clothes. You verify with the cleaner "I need all of this back TONIGHT!!! Can I get them back TONIGHT?!?!?!" He calmly responds "si."
Okay... Laundry... CHECK!
Then you rush to work and the person you think is your boss greets you at the door. "We're definitely driving up tomorrow!"
Now comes the storm of things to do!
Schedule some space so you can kennel the Dog- CHECK!
Schedule a haircut for this afternoon- CHECK!
Cancel the people coming to work at your house this week- CHECK
Confirm with the ex- CHECK!
Cancel a personal appointment- CHECK!
Cancel a date- CHECK!
Rescheduled a client- CHECK!
Notify everyone who reads your blog that you're not going to be around for the week- CHECK!
Notify every living family member and anyone you cross paths with that you will be out of town this week- CHECK!
Spend the first three hours of your, workday that aren't dedicated to your checklist, doing actual work- CHECK!
Rush out early to have a rare Monday lunch with your child because you will absolutely not see them again this week after today- CHECK!
ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES TO MIND!!!! - check
At lunch your child is very sad because you'll be gone all week and they will miss you. You are touched and equally sad but you explain to your child "I'm sorry honey, it's just what I have to do!" and all you can hear in your head is the song "Cats in The Cradle!" DAMMIT!!!
Then you rush back to work to tie up any loose ends.
You walk in the door and you hear these words emanate from the mouth of the boss-type person: "Hey, why are you going to corporate again?"
You simply reply, "Well, I got that e-mail from corporate and then talked to you about it and...." As if you need to review it all with the only person who understands.
To which he basically replies by informing you that his boss thinks it's a great idea for you to come up to corporate but doesn't know why you would. As he continues to speak at you, and your jaw seems to be falling further and further away from your head, the words coming out of his face linger on and smack you in the face as if he were an Englishman dancing in front of you with a Mackerel in his hands. Eventually he finishes it all off with "And soooo you're not going..." But he is.
You're not upset to not be going, however, you now have to un-check EVERYTHING you previously checked off!!!! But alas, some things are not "un-checkable."
UUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHH!!!!!
Glad that didn't happen to me... twenty-four hours ago....
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