This post was first written and published on an older blog in November 2005. Part of a series I used to call The Crazy Morning Series, because I tended to have them a bit too often.
Recently I have been suffering from an avalanche of work. So I have been forced to do what I steadfastly avoid doing – bringing work home.
So, Thursday night I sat up and worked for hours, until one of the files on my flash drive refused to open. More relieved than flustered about that, for I couldn’t have tolerated any more of it, I wrapped up work and went to sleep. Woke up a little late the next morning, but not too late to still make it to work on time, as I quickly calculated after waking up. So I got ready in a hurry and left, noting conspicuously to my smug self that I was out of the house ahead of my usual time.
Fifteen minutes later, I was at the red signal right next to my office building, waiting to turn right and into the building. That is usually the point where my mind automatically shifts into work-gear and I mentally start making lists of what I have to do during the day. And that is precisely when realization dawned: I had left the laptop and the flash drive, with all my work in it, at home. So much for getting out early.
Quick look at watch – it’s 9.30AM – the time I should be entering office. Cursing my absent-mindedness, I quickly make a call to my office, tell them that I am an idiot and why I am an idiot and that I’ll be a little late. Take an about-turn from the same signal, instead of a right, and head back home.
I reach home, enter the house to an ecstatic kitten jumping all around me – she must have thought I was back for good, poor baby – give her a quick cuddle, grab the laptop, brush my hair once more, dart out of the house, and head back for office.
Twenty minutes later, I enter office with a sheepish grin, with people shaking their heads at me in a ‘May-God-grant-you-some-good-sense’ manner. I get down to work at a furious pace, I have a deadline in a couple of hours. An hour later, I call up the client for a few clarifications. The client can’t make sense of what I am rattling off on the phone, so asks me to fax a copy of the document to him. “Sure!”, I say, and hang up, and reach out for the document.
Ouch.
I had left the document at home.
Amidst peals of laughter and more matronly head-shaking, I grab my car keys and run out of the office. I drive back at a speed I shall not reveal, enter the house to an even more ecstatic kitten. Give her another cuddle, hunt for the document, find it under the bed (how did it get there?!), give the now-confused-and-a-little-sad kitten yet another cuddle and dash out of the house. The front gate takes too long a time to lock and cursing the day under my breath, I get into the car, and turn the key in the ignition.
Gaaah! The document is sitting on the bonnet of the car. Why is it on the bonnet of the car? Because I had kept it there, in order to have my hands free while I was locking the gate that took too long to lock. If I were another person sitting next to me at the moment, I would have given myself one tight slap. But I tend to be kinder than that to myself. So I get out of the car, grab the document, get back in, drive back to office, enter amidst a lot of grinning and more head-shaking (from people who don’t have a sense of humour..) and get down to work.
I would have told you had there been any other mishaps, but then again, hasn’t the above done enough to sully my reputation already?
