{"id":50116,"date":"2011-07-07T20:17:46","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T00:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/50116\/late-day\/"},"modified":"2011-07-07T20:17:46","modified_gmt":"2011-07-08T00:17:46","slug":"late-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/50116\/late-day\/","title":{"rendered":"I CAN’T BE LATE FOR MY FIRST DAY!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I don\u2019t know why I was feeling so overwrought and nervous.\u00a0 It was just an orientation.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like I was really starting real work yet.\u00a0 Heck, I wasn\u2019t even reporting to what is going to be my regular store.\u00a0 For efficiency\u2019s sake, they combine several stores\u2019 new employees and have them meet at one place.\u00a0 I was going to a different store in a nearby town, about ten miles from my home.<\/p>\n

Last night, I charted out my bus route and it wasn\u2019t going to be too arduous.\u00a0 Ride my bike from home about a quarter mile, one bus, and then about 3\/4th\u2019s of a mile at the other end of the line.\u00a0 There were other routes I could have taken that weren\u2019t going to require as much bike riding, but I\u2019d enjoy the early morning exercise.<\/p>\n

I found it hard to get to sleep last night, and then when I did drift off, it was in fits and starts, interrupted by vivid dreams produced by my new-job anxiety.\u00a0\"\" The strangest\u00a0 had to be the one where I found myself working in the new department, and all <\/strong>of my co-workers were permutations of Milton from the movie \u201cOffice Space.\u201d\u00a0 Remember him?\u00a0 The soda-bottle thick glasses, the disheveled hair, so proud of his stapler.<\/p>\n

I set my alarm clock to 6:10 AM in order to make sure I had plenty of time to get ready and make that first quarter-mile leg to catch an 8:05 bus.\u00a0 At 5:30 AM, I awoke, and since the sun rises so early at this time of the year, the sunlight in my room sent me into a panic thinking that the alarm had not gone off and I had overslept!\u00a0 Ack!\u00a0 There would be nothing worse in my mind than showing up late to my first day of work.\u00a0 That would be terrible.\u00a0 That 8:05 AM bus would get me to the longer ending bike ride at :8:40 with 20 minutes to make that 3\/4th of a mile.<\/p>\n

This was too close of a margin for my comfort.\u00a0 I usually show up early to things as a matter of course.\u00a0 I decided since I had given myself so much time, I would catch the 7:35 bus and be half an hour early just to be safe.<\/p>\n

The morning air was fresh and the birds were singing as I ventured forth from home, beginning my new job and a new life.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t gone two blocks before I hit my first snafu.\u00a0 My bike was having a problem, but it was one I had anticipated and was prepared for!<\/p>\n

\"\"See, a couple months ago, the nut that holds the left crank arm to the crankbolt (see diagram) came loose on its own accord and fell off.\u00a0 I lost the nut entirely.\u00a0 Fortunately, this happened half a block from my regular bike shop, and they put a new nut on for me, tightened it good and didn\u2019t even charge me.\u00a0 About two weeks ago, the same thing happened!\u00a0 The nut loosened itself, fell off and disappeared.\u00a0 I bought a nut this time, and a buddy of mine who also happens to be a motorcycle mechanic added some quick-tite to the bolt and we tightened the nut with his air-powered tools.\u00a0 I thought it was on there really good this time.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I noticed a weird play in the crank arm when I was pedaling that I recognized as a sign that the nut was coming loose again.\u00a0 When I got home, I dug out my socket set, tightened the nut and made sure that I had that tool with me when I went out this morning so I could re-tighten it if needed.\u00a0 As I said, I only made it two blocks before I had to get off and tighten the nut.\u00a0 Most of that first quarter mile was downhill, and as I wasn\u2019t pedaling, the nut stayed on a dozen blocks or so.\u00a0 When I felt that wobble in the crank arm and I stopped again, the nut was gone!\u00a0 Shoot!\u00a0 Well, I had plenty of time, so I backtracked on foot, looking for this precious fastener.\u00a0 I found it relatively quickly, got the bike working again and only had to stop one more time before I made it to the transit center.<\/p>\n

What a hassle!<\/p>\n

I was relaxing, reading my book as the city bus made it\u2019s way up an urban expressway.\u00a0 All this effort had me a little sweaty even though it was overcast and about 60 degrees.<\/p>\n

The bus driver slammed on his brakes!\u00a0 I almost dropped my book.\u00a0 My fellow passengers went lurching all over the place.\u00a0 The poor woman who was sitting in the seat without another in front of it was thrown to the ground and her cell phone went flying into the air as we heard a loud CRASH!!\u00a0 Looking out the front window, the small hatchback we had just hit was a third of the way into the intersection.\u00a0 The light was green.\u00a0 It\u2019s rear bumper was dangling and the entire backside of the car was a mess.\u00a0 We had just rear-ended a vehicle that was stopped in the turn lane at a green light.
\n
\n\u201cYOU STUPID\u2026!!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> the bus driver exclaimed, not finishing the insult he was hurling at the driver of the car we\u2019d just struck.\u00a0 From then on it, it was all pretty professional.\u00a0 The paramedics came to check out the lady who got thrown to the aisles of the bus.\u00a0 One lady seemingly suddenly decided she had neck pain when the authorities got there.\u00a0 We all had to fill out little incident cards, and get off the completely undamaged bus.\u00a0 Wait.. The reason the bus wasn\u2019t damaged was because it hit the car with the fold-down heavy-duty bike rack in the down position\u2026 with my bike on it!\u00a0 OMG!\u00a0 Was my bike okay?<\/p>\n

\"\"It was.\u00a0 I counted myself lucky that I taken the earlier bus. Nevermind that if I hadn\u2019t I wouldn\u2019t have been in the accident at all.\u00a0 The next bus was the one I was going to take in the first place.<\/p>\n

Then I noticed where this had all taken place.\u00a0 I knew this corner<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 This was the corner one and half blocks from a place where my life changed forever.\u00a0 This corner was the starting point of that short, fateful journey after which I decided to stop drinking.\u00a0 There, as I waited to get on a bus that would take me to a new life, right across the street from me, was the last bar I was ever in. That bar was where my old life ended.<\/p>\n

It started to rain.\u00a0 Hey, wait a minute! I didn\u2019t even bring a jacket!\u00a0 It was supposed to be nice out today!<\/p>\n

We get to the other end of the line without incident, although every time the bus decelerated quickly, my heart skipped a beat thinking it was happening again.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 8:32 AM.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got 28 minutes to make it to my destination. I tighten the nut holding on the crank arm again and am off.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even make it to the light on the corner before the wobble is back and I have to stop and re-tighten.\u00a0 Then, I make it about 200 feet before I have to repeat the procedure.\u00a0 Then 100 feet.\u00a0 This is getting ridiculous and very frustrating.\u00a0 Oh great.\u00a0 I look ahead and see that the majority of the rest of the way is uphill.\u00a0 It\u2019s starting to rain even harder.\u00a0 I am getting soaked.\u00a0 Another 100 feet.\u00a0 Stop.\u00a0 Re-tighten.\u00a0 Again and again.\u00a0 It\u2019s 8:50 AM.\u00a0 Will I make it?\u00a0 I can see the corner where the store is located as I finally catch up to someone whom I noticed had left the bus station at the same time I had.\u00a0 He was on foot.<\/p>\n

I feel that wobble of the crank arm, but I\u2019m not stopping!\u00a0 I need to be on time!!\u00a0 At the edge of the store\u2019s parking lot, the crank arm completely comes loose.\u00a0 Shit.\u00a0 Where the heck is that nut?\u00a0 I am going to need it.\u00a0 I backtrack again and fortunately find it again.\u00a0 I put the nut in my pocket and walk my bike to look for a place to lock it up.\u00a0 Finding a place, I look down and see that crank arm is now gone.\u00a0 The arm itself fell off somewhere in the parking lot.\u00a0 It takes me 5 minutes to find it back up near the parking lot\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n

Disheveled, sopping wet and very frustrated, I make my first appearance in an official capacity with my new employer.\u00a0 I carried the crank arm in with me as a prop to explain why I was showing up at my 9:00 AM orientation at 9:10 AM.<\/p>\n

The HR manager explains that we were just going around the table introducing ourselves and if it\u2019s now my turn.\u00a0 I emphatically tell the room most of the story above, including the bus accident and the stop and start journey in the rain from the bus station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d the HR manager notes, \u201cin all the years I\u2019ve been running these orientations, that has to be the best introduction I have EVER heard!\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled.\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 I\u2019m already the best at something in my new company!
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\"\"
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I don\u2019t know why I was feeling so overwrought and nervous.\u00a0 It was just an orientation.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like I was really starting real work yet.\u00a0 Heck, I wasn\u2019t even reporting to what is going to be my regular store.\u00a0 For efficiency\u2019s sake, they combine several stores\u2019 new employees and have them meet at one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,10,11],"tags":[1053,3852,3853,3855,81,3854,1538,1206],"class_list":["post-50116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-life","category-people","tag-bus","tag-commute","tag-horror-story","tag-job","tag-joko","tag-late","tag-seattle","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}