In fact, I have worked off and on in his office for upwards of 35 years. I started very young, and I had a couple of breaks with college and small kids; he has always let me be super flexible with it. They let me come and go as I please, just as long as I do or arrange for someone to take care of my obligations. My office is in the back; I suppose I could wear my pajamas if I wanted.
This morning, I received a frantic text from a co-worker. She was sicker than sick and could not come to work. Normally, this is not a big deal, but with another co-worker on vacation, she was calling me to save the day. Awesome! I'm there. I owe this chick big time, and I need to get with it on paying her back.
Bam! I beat my Dad to the office. So what? I barely know where the light switches are. One disadvantage of coming and going as you please is that the lights are always on, doors open -- all the preliminaries are covered. Seems like there is always coffee. I wonder how that works. The coffee maker is nothing like people have in their kitchens. A brighter gal might have figured it out, but I was embarrassed when my Dad showed up and demonstrated how it was done.
So far so good, and it's about 8:20 A.M.
I have to be super vague due to confidentiality, but I can tell you it was a hilarious day. It was a day of discovery. It was a day of, "hey, we're doing the best we can, here." But the fact of the matter is, everyone who works there has a routine, and when everyone does their thing, the whole place is a well-oiled machine. Today, with two big gaps in the system, it was Dad leading the blind (me). The ill co-worker at home was trying to help me from afar, but I was a real piece of work. When I have to do the parts of the the job that I am not very familiar with, it is slightly out of my comfort zone.
Lunchtime arrives faster than usual, and we call my Mom to meet us out for a quick bite. We get seated, and Dad asks me if we did something very important before we left. Sheepishly, I tell him, "I don't think we did. I didn't, did you?" Kind of a big deal, so he runs back to the office and secures the issue. Somehow, after lunch we arrived back at the office about 20 minutes late, and that NEVER happens. I'm telling you, it was a day of firsts.
Any office you go into has a copy machine. With me in charge of office operations outside the practice of law, the copy machine didn't get turned on until 2:40 P.M. Yep. Just goes to show how "not normal" this day was. Everyone has certain responsibilities and even different equipment. Something as simple as printing a document can be challenging when I am in someone else's space.
Let's be clear -- I am the "B Team."
Several times today the phone lines would all light up at once. When I answer and am on one line, people are usually surprised when Dad picks up the next phone line. Sometimes it's not for him. I bet that makes him happy.
All I can say is that when the regulars get back, they are going to be thrilled with what I left waiting for them. New little symbols to reflect things not completed. Little notes trying to explain what I did and why. Lots of mysteries to solve.
About 5:30 when Dad and I were walking out the door and verbalizing every "shut down procedure" we could possibly think of -- we decided on a high five.
And it all ended with a laugh.
