Page 3

January 3

Love is probably too strong of a word, but I did used to "love" Fridays at work. We don't have to wear pants and I used to crank the headphones up for Funky Cold Friday and listen to late 80s, early 90s Hip Hop.

I should probably explain the no pants comment, eh? We can wear jeans on Friday instead of pants. Pants in my world = anything that is not jeans or sweats. Pants in my world = not interesting. Any day I don't have to wear pants is a good day.

Well, Fridays got a lot less interesting and a thousand times less fun when they banned the use of headphones. I know, even though I work in a cubicle, it is still a manufacturing facility and I'm sure you think the headphone ban would be due to the danger of loose cords near machines and something getting caught and someone losing an ear. After all, we do have an Entanglement Policy which specifies how far away things can hang from your body or your clothing. But you would still be wrong.

It is a "safety issue" however. The logic for the banning of headphones is that OSHA (look it up, if necessary) says that a safe maximum decibel level while working 8 straight hours is 85. Since the company can't control the level at which we listen to our music, they have to ban headphones to keep us safe. There are obviously machines in the building that run higher than 85 decibels that people work at all day and those folks have to wear ear plugs to protect their hearing. I'm fine with that. But as any decibel level iPhone app will tell you, our ice machine in the cafeteria runs higher than 85 decibels and no one is requiring me to wear earplugs while eating my leftovers. Maybe that is next month's memo?

Anyway, no headphones sucks all the time, but especially on Friday when you want to try to rock out through the last work day of the week.

So, it's Friday and I'm at least loving this Friday a little bit because it is my last Friday at this company. Maybe. Long story.

I'm also loving this Friday because I'm leaving a little early to head to AllSkate for Gavin's birthday party with his friends.

Then, I'm given another reason to love this Friday when my boss emails and says he is taking the department for a holiday lunch at Outback. I'm swamped and have a lot to accomplish over my last four days of work (in theory), but I never turn down the opportunity for an Outback Special.

I mentioned on Page 1 two possibilities for what could happen to my career over the next few days. I came back from my scrumptious steak lunch to an email revealing what could be a third possibility.

I don't want to talk about it right now. I finally thought I was over the emotional roller coaster related to this whole "I actually quit three and a half weeks ago and no one is letting me quit" ride, but it looks like I'm clicking up a steep hill as we approach Monday and I'm not sure if my stomach is going to hold out or if I am going to barf all over the person in front of me. I'm going to pick my seat wisely because there are some people I'd much rather puke on than others. (What is your favorite way of saying vomit? I always thought that would be a great Family Feud question.)

Luckily, I have a party to go to. There, I can have them crank the music up beyond 85 decibels, so I can rock out. And maybe today will be the session where I figure out what to do with my hands when I'm just skating in circles? I never got "session-skating" growing up and I guess I still haven't conquered that either.

Headphones or no headphones, next week could be interesting.