Friday, January 28, 2011

Got a minute? Got an ear? Got a shoulder? Got a hug? I need them all.

This post was to tell you how great yesterday turned out.
The breakfast was delicious.  The pizza sale was an overwhelming success.  All 48 pieces of pizza were gone in less than a hour.  The book discussion brought out a lot of comments and observations and the lunch that went with the discussion went without a hitch.
The only fly in the ointment was an invitation to attend a meeting to defend a spontaneous decision made by Shop and Stock.  The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.  Who knew that today would be so hectic that I really had little time to dwell on it.

Did you ever wake up and just know that the day was going to go downhill?

This was one of those days.
One of my volunteers called the office to say she was admitted to the hospital and wouldn't be released for a few days.
The office called me at 8:30am and I was off and running.
Organizing my wonderful volunteers can be a challenge. They are senior citizens. Like most their age, there are health considerations that need to be addressed.

This day, the person who should have staffed our snack shop from 9am to noon was off site for a doctor's appointment. My volunteer, in the hospital, was taking that shift as a favor.
Needless to say, with plan A and B out of the picture, the person to take their places was me.

On a normal day that wouldn't be a problem.
Today, I had other things on my schedule.

We have a scheduled event every Thursday morning from 9am to noon. It was obvious that I couldn't be in two places at one time, so I went to my go to guy and asked if he could take over that event. He couldn't. He was driving his wife to Albion in the morning so she could tend to her elderly mother. He planned to spend the day there.
With no one else to take over that event, I cancelled it.

My next appointment was at 11am.
The people who were coming in tonight to do a program planned to meet with me this morning to do an equipment check. That one I couldn't hand off to anyone else.
So, I locked the shop at 11am to meet with them.

My next volunteer arrived, on time, to replace me at noon.

I quickly went through a few updates with her and specifically explained that a vendor would be coming in with a delivery. I explained that she would have to pay the vendor. Satisfied that everything was under control, I left.

On my way to the elevator, I stopped by the kitchen to make sure that refreshments were ready for this evening.
They weren't. Not only were they not ready, but they didn't have it on their schedule.
We quickly agreed on refreshments, then I headed for home.

I looked at the clock, it was almost 1pm. I had to be back in the shop at three.

I did a few things around the house, then took a pill to take the edge off the searing pain in my bad knee. The plan was to lie down for a hour to let the pill work.

My head didn't hit the pillow before the phone rang.
It was the office. The vendor was there and needed to be paid.
Hmmmm, didn't I show my volunteer how to do this?
Yes, I did.

I got up and went back to the shop. The volunteer was in a tizzy. Apparently she hadn't heard a word I said. I paid the vendor, exchanged a few pleasant words, then went back home.

When I arrived back in the shop at 3, the volunteer let me know that Shop and Stock left a check for me in "the bag".

The bag? I checked the drawers and couldn't find a check.

It wasn't until I made my first sale that I found a check in the cash register. It was from our treasurer for the event's speaker tonight. Which would have been wonderful, except I didn't need a check for this speaker. I left it in the register and planned to return it, tomorrow, at a meeting we were both scheduled to attend.

Shop and Stock arrived a few minutes before six to relieve me. He apparently had a late night appointment since he was dressed to kill. All well and good, except we are both expected at tomorrow's meeting and I hoped to go over some things with him this evening after the event. That wasn't going to happen.

I gave him a rundown on the evening's schedule and left to go home anxious to grab a shower and change before heading down to introduce our guests.

The last request I gave Shop and Stock was to arrange to have an announcement made reminding our residents of the evening's program.

I turned on the shower, adjusted the water, and was about to get in when the phone rang. It was the president of our council. He wanted to know what he was suppose to say in the announcement. He also wanted to tell me that he dialed the wrong number and carried on a five minute conversation with some poor lady who had no clue about an announcement or what he was suppose to say. During all of this, of course, the shower is running and I'm stark naked.

The evening event went without a hitch. It was well received. So much so that the book, recently published by our speaker, will be the next selection for our book discussion group.  I did use the blank check, from our treasurer.  I purchased two books written by our speaker for our library.  He autographed both of them.

Shop and Stock did come by just long enough for me to give him a heads up on an issue soon to be raised. Then he was off for the night.

The day is over. I am resting my knee. The meeting tomorrow will come without final preparation. The outcome may not be in our favor. We'll just have to wait and see.

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