My mind is not here

With apologies to Robert Burns:

My mind is with Mallie's, my mind is not here,
My mind is with Mallie's, a-chasing the deer;

Friday, July 27th, 2007, my last day of working with Bosstopus, Vegan Lawyer, Goldilocks and Snoopy.

Six a.m. The alarm was set for six-twenty, so I wondered why I was awake. Then The Smell hit me. Bigfoot had had diarrhea all over the hardwood floor (easy to clean) and my bedside rug with the magnolia-patterned center (not so easy to clean, but it's in the wash right now and we shall see). Cleaned that up, put both dogs outside, fed Littlefoot, showered, dressed, went to work.

Nine a.m. Walk into work, and there are two sets of flowers waiting for me from Goldilocks and Snoopy, along with a card from the former that makes my eyes fill with tears and a card from Bosstopus that makes the tears spill over.

Nine-thirty a.m. Snoopy is going to have access to my computer for at least a while in August, so I needed to move the payroll files into my password-protected folder. These are all payroll files for Bosstopus dating back to 2002, and payroll files for middle liddle brother's office from 2003-2006. Copied the file, checked that it was there, deleted the original, went back to the password-protected folder which only had gobbledygook in it. Realized I had shift-deleted the folder, meaning there was no copy in the recycle bin. *Insert very bad language*

Took a deep breath, called Tech Support aka Dad. His response was "Shut your computer down, do not turn it back on. In fact, unplug it and put it in your mother's car to bring home tonight." Did that. He also made one very restrained comment about the advisability of backups. From now on, I will do that.

Return to my desk, count dustbunnies, wonder how I am going to finish up the last accounting we have due in July, plus the payroll taxes, in what's left of my four hour Saturday shift after Tech Support is done dinking around. I also have mutinous thoughts about how I wanted to come in at eight and leave at twelve, and there's no way he's going to be up before noon, let alone in the office. Then I realized that not only am I a jackass who has deleted an original file without backing it up and without checking the copy, I am an ungrateful person who is griping about what hours of his Saturday my father is going to give up to fix my mistake.

Ten fifteen a.m. The phone rings, and it's Snarkzilla over at Probate Court. The accounting Bosstopus took over yesterday is off by three hundred dollars and she ran the tape twice. Dig out our copies and spend time running the disbursements (all one hundred seven of them) through the adding machine twice. Come up with the same number Excel gave me and which we used for the accounting. Staple the adding machine tapes to the relevant pages and set aside for Bosstopus to take over to court. In the mood I am in right now, if I were to call over there, I would probably begin the conversation by shrieking "I'm not wrong, you are, bite me!" which, while satisfying, is not conducive to future peaceful dealings between Bosstopus and the accounts department.

Eleven a.m. Vegan Lawyer tells me she wants to take all of us out to lunch, her treat, to say goodbye. Try not to cry again. NB: Goldilocks has spent all of yesterday and today making random comments about nailing the office door shut/gluing me to my chair/taking other drastic actions to keep me from leaving. This is flattering but also makes me sad. Am saved from tears by the phone ringing. Find out that opposing counsel in an ongoing case has done something sneaky and rotten, not for the first time. On the one hand, all he is doing is irritating the judge, the judicial attorney and the court staff, which is to our benefit. On the other hand, Bosstopus still has to deal with the stealth maneuvers, which is not good for her state of mind.

Eleven fifteen a.m. Waiting for Bosstopus to return from depositions so we can go to lunch. VL opines that she should be done by now because opposing counsel has a short attention span. When Bosstopus finally arrives, we head for lunch. I'm not all that wild about the Olive Garden, but the company was good, and we had fun. VL gave me two necklaces (my birthday present) and a candleholder (my goodbye present). We return to the office and Goldilocks pulls out a vegan chocolate cake (our standby for celebrations). Bosstopus heads over to court to exercise her tact and diplomacy.

Two p.m. A client comes in and I am reminded of the morning's stupidity, as I cannot download a deed, print a will cover or create a deed. VL has to leave for the day/week, so I give her a big hug and promise to stay in touch. Snoopy also has to leave to take a Ward to his audiology testing, so I say goodbye to him as well.

Three-thirty p.m. Bosstopus takes the mail over to catch the last pickup of the week, and when she returns, I realize that I forgot to give her a letter that needed to go out today. Now my drive home includes a detour to the post office, yay. Discuss multiple phone calls with Bosstopus, and fiddle around getting my tasks set up for tomorrow while she handles two client crises that have arisen during the day.

Four-thirty p.m. Take a letter upstairs to another attorney's office and drop it in the slot. Have a final conversation with Bosstopus and with Snoopy, who has returned unexpectedly. Give Bosstopus a phone number she needs, and walk out to my car carrying flowers, Isabel Isafrog and Handsome Rob. Thank Snoopy for carrying the other pot of flowers, load up my car and head home. Forget to go to the post office, so now I will be doing that in the morning.

Aaargh.