'Tis Good To Be Needed...Sort Of

Yesterday morning, I dragged my big butt out of bed at the usual time and stumbled into the bathroom to begin my morning ablutions in preparation for work. I opened the medicine cabinet door to retrieve my toothbrush, then closed the door and looked at my reflection in the mirror…and that is when I knew…of all the places in the world I did not want to be at that moment in time…work was at the top of the list. So, I crawled back into bed, pulled the covers up to my chin and watched morning television until 8:00a.m. when I called-in to let them know I was taking a "personal" day.

This is just a lousy time of year for me. I suppose it’s a lousy time of year for a lot of people, but I chose to battle this particular onset of the "blahs" or "blues" by just hanging out. I watched a lot of TV, made a pot of Pasta e Fagioli, and fiddled around on the computer most of the day. I thought about writing something for the blog, but was not inspired.

Anyway, I went back to work this morning and was at my desk when Dave came in to see how things were going. We got our report back from SBA regarding the December audit, so we chatted about that for a bit, then he said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you get hit by a truck, we’re in trouble.” I told him I realized that and was planning to do an in-service training for the department, so the others would know how to package the loans in a pinch. It’s no big thing…really…I mean both Angie and Andy have packaged their own loans in the past…just not using the software program we presently utilize. I figured there was more to this little passing comment and around noon-ish, I was made privy to the real reason for Dave’s comment.

God bless Kelly. She knows everything. I will stop short of calling her the office gossip, but she is truly “in the know” when it comes to what is going on in the place. It turns out that Mike…the third loan officer…was talking to Dave and Kelly “overheard” the conversation. Evidently, Mike was lamenting the fact that I had taken the day off, and he made some comment about what would happen…heaven forbid…if I took an honest to God vacation. (Make no mistake, I’ll be taking some vacation time.)

I guess Dave told Mike…in no uncertain terms…to mind his own business, that we were not hiring anyone to replace Sandy until I told him I needed someone, and that if Mike was so concerned about it, he should go out and muster up some loans to drive up the loan volume that would give him a reason to hire another person. Wow! You go Dave!

Gee…and this was with me taking only one day off. Can’t wait to see how Mike reacts when I take a week’s vacation or schedule my carpal tunnel surgery or stumble in front of that truck. Guess Mike will really miss me then, huh? He might actually have to learn how to do something…besides whine.