So, today I have to swing by a client's on my way in and drop off a power adaptor. (I was at the client's precisely at 8:30, my nominal "starting time," so don’t' run away with the idea that I took advantage of needing to do an errand to sleep in or anything).

After that, I drive back and I'm pulling into the office parking lot when my cell phone rings. It's Sassy, telling me that Buehler (who is supposed to be on vacation in Mexico today) is wigging out because he can't find me. Seems that Buehler's business checking is on the verge of an overdraft and he desperately wants me to check the weekend mail, find the check that's supposed to be there, and rush madly to the bank and deposit it for him.

I check said mail, said check is there. I call Sassy back and swear an oath that I'm taking off to deposit it instantly. As long as I'm going, I prepare the deposits for my company and take them with me. Temperature is already skyrocketing and both banks are in Cherry Creek, parking hell, but I eventually manage to find two spaces (the banks aren't close enough together to walk from one to the other unless you have an extra half-hour or so to spare.

I'm finally here, at my desk, and ready to "work" at 10:02 a.m.

It's going to be a rough day. I'm not good at mornings under the best of circumstances and driving madly all over town doing unexpected errands is going to throw off my rhythm for hours.

Update: Bernie's been in my office four times since arrived 20 minutes ago.

Once to say he wants to show me what he did this weekend. (He was cleaning boxes. Does he really require a formal meeting so I can praise him?)

Once to ask if a software program will work without one of its components. (Ummm...no.)

Once to take a communication base & serial cable from my computer so he could use them (any normal human being would have just picked up one of the 50 bases and one of the 100 cables in the shipping room, instead of crawling around my office, dismantling my set-up) and once to return said items when the serial cable turned out to be...well, a serial cable, not USB.

I hate Mondays.

Update 2: I cannot believe this. I just dashed by his office (I'm trying to get everything he needs packed for a client delivery on Wednesday) and he's sitting in there with Windex and a paper towel, cleaning the screens on the boxes. He's just...sitting there. Waiting for me to come in and look at the boxes before he can let it go and do some work.

My boss is a very sick person.

Update 3: Now we had an hour-long meeting that started out being about the tasks that didn't get done last week and wound up for the last 45 minutes being about how the office isn't tidy or well-organized. Considering that it's looked like this since 12 years before they hired me, I can't feel that I am at fault.

Update 4: We have had another meeting. Apparently my 'tude is bad.

His feelings were hurt because when I told him I was in the middle of something and asked him to give me five minutes, he came back fifteen seconds later and wanted something else and I was annoyed and it showed.

I have agreed, with all solemnity, and not promised to work on it. If he wants me to play bookkeeper and HR person, he has to live with the idea that there will be moments when I'm laboriously tracking the path of some document and simply not available to give him a paper copy of something he has on his computer but is too lazy to look for.

DiamondGirl is gone, you know. Friday was her last day. Today she's IMing me and laughing at me.