back to work

oh mondays

so after being off for two weeks, i'm back to work. taking advantage of the snow from last night and the fact that everyone at work knows i'm from texas, i came into work about an hour late today armed with the good hearted explanation for anyone that might give me a hard time that it took me a while to scrape the ice off my car this morning. i honestly don't know if anyone notices me coming in late or not, but i've been armed with the excuse for quite some time now. i also have an excuse for leaving early. in my mind, i imagine the conversation i would have with my boss if he noticed i was leaving before sunset and it would go something like this:

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boss: oh hey shaun, leaving already?

me: yeah, you know it's getting cold out there (rub my hands together for effect). i want to get home before it gets too icy out there.

boss: oh yeah, you texas folks, can't handle the cold weather can ya? (friendly slap on the shoulder) alright then, be careful. see you tomorrow.

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just like that.

actually, i've become pretty efficient at scaping ice off my car and i enjoy driving in the snow. after the snowfall from the other day, i went out to the park to find some empty space to drive around and have some fun. it turns out i'm not the only reckless idiot who drives to the park for the purpose of sliding around in their car.

the first time i went to the park, i was pretty cautious to make sure that none of the other cars there were any sort of authority figures. furthermore, i didn't want to go sliding around setting a bad example for any kids who were in the car with their mom, so i'd wait until there weren't any cars near me. well, i was driving to the south end of the park and there was a car moving pretty slowly in front of me. i thought that i would keep going to the empty south end and wait for this car to leave, but right in front of me, i see the car turn 180 degrees all of a sudden and slide to a stop. as i inched past, i made eye contact with the driver and he had this guilty look on his face as if i caught him red handed. in his excitement, he must not have seen me behind him. so, as a friendly gesture, i drove a little past him, then turned sharply left and pulled the hand brake, doing my own 180. i imagine he was relieved.

with all my preparation, i didn't need any excuses today for coming late and leaving early. my boss wasn't there at all. not only that, i saw one of the full time employees pull up near my car after i had just stepped out. he had the same look on his face as the driver who did the 180 in front of me.