Today's rambling: What a crappy day!
Written on Monday, Aug. 19, 2002 at 7:23 p.m.
while feeling a bit

Ugh! Today just wasn't a very good day at all. It started off with a pounding headache...Coincidentally, I'd gone to bed last night with the same sort of headache. I took a couple of Tylenol, got ready for work...and for the first hour or so after I got to the store, I was still suffering from the headache. If I stood still, the pain sort of faded out a bit, but as soon as I began moving, the pounding started up again. X_X

Geoff and EJ were both working in the frozen section, and so I didn't try talking to Geoff at all (for fear of getting yelled at). So if I walked by and he happened to look up, we'd both smile or make a face at each other, but that was about the extent of it. It wasn't until later, when Brooke and I were walking out of the back room, that I actually got an opportunity to talk a little with him. Brooke and I were joking that we should send Paul down the dumpster chute in a biohazard suit, so he could clean everything out, when she suggested that we voice the idea to Geoff. He was standing right by the path we were taking, so it wasn't as if we had to veer out of our way.

At any rate, the three of us had been talking for less than a minute when EJ called my name and kept looking at me (which of course meant that he expected me to walk over to him). A small part of me already knew that he was going to get on my case, and sure enough, he said something like, "You're bothering my boy." I tried making light of it, by saying that Brooke and I were only suggesting something, but he replied with something about distracting Geoff and that Dave had said something about it...I don't know. I'd begun to walk away by that time, too embarrassed to stay and hear the rest. Couldn't he have just talked to me about that somewhere AWAY from Geoff? I know it sounds stupid, but it really bothered me. My mood plummeted even further than the low point at which it had already been stationed, and stayed like that for awhile.

Later on, I headed to the back for some reason (I can't remember now, hehe), and as I was turning I slipped on a small puddle. I didn't fall, but I stumbled a bit...and of course when I looked up, Geoff (who'd been walking in my direction) was laughing at me. "You're supposed to look," he teased, but I wasn't in the mood for joking. I think I paused just long enough to say, "I'm not allowed to talk to you," and when he asked why, I put on an obviously-fake smile and said, "Ask EJ!"

"What'd he say?" Geoff called out after me, but I just shook my head and went into the back room.

I have to admit, I never really expected him to ask EJ what had been said. However, the next time I saw him (by the trash compactor), he looked up at me--with this incorrigibly devilish twinkle in his eyes--and put a finger to his lips. "You're not allowed to talk, not even here," he stated.

"Don't make fun of me!" I pouted. "I was back there crying!" And yes, I had been. Right after I walked away from him, I went into the bathroom and cried. >_<

I forget his exact words, but he couldn't understand why I'd gotten so upset over that. The words of 'You've Got Mail' came to mind: "It's not personal. It's business." EJ just didn't want me keeping Geoff from getting his job done. The explanation (which I'd understood from the time EJ first talked to me) did nothing to soothe me. All it did was make me want to let out everything that had been running through my mind from the time that the whole ordeal started.

"You work like sixteen hours a day, and yet my 5 minutes of talking to you here and there is somehow going to make you get less done?" I exclaimed. Geoff tried explaining more, but I stopped listening.

Finally, after I'd thrown out the garbage, I said, "They want you to get all this done, but yet it's okay for EJ to just leave you by yourself with the C-SOP stuff."

Geoff called out twice for me to repeat myself as I walked away, but I shook my head again. Ironically, EJ was blocking my way out. The utility closet is right inside the doors to the back room, and he was pulling stuff out of it. "Can you let me through?" I snapped (though admittedly, it wasn't as sharp a snap as I would've liked to make it). EJ pulled his shopping cart a little toward himself, asked if I could fit, and I said, "Yes. Thank you," and shoved my way out.

As Mom told me later, she'd been standing on a ladder in the back room when Geoff approached her and remarked that I was really fired up. He then proceeded to tell her everything that had happened, and that apparently the "don't distract him" rule only lasted as long as the two of them were working on the reset (aka the leftovers from the C-SOP folks). Once the reset was done (which was shortly before Mom told me this story), I was allowed to talk to him again. I guess, anyway. She thought the two of us had gotten into a fight, because I was so upset and he'd gone on lunch by himself.

Nina had put me in somewhat better spirits before this happened, because she'd heard what EJ said to me and was making a joke out of it. "Hey! Don't distract that machine!" she'd yell out from the deli department, or "Stop distracting those donuts!" When she first made a comment about it, I got all panicked, wondering who'd told her. But it felt somehow nice to have one person who'd heard and agreed that EJ had been stupid.

After talking to Mom, I wandered over to the dairy aisle to finally talk to Geoff. Just as we were starting to talk, Brooke came over, and so the conversation changed. Midway through, for no apparent reason, Geoff stepped away from fronting the dairy shelves and came over to stand right next to my right side. ^_^ I'd been standing a couple of feet behind him, and Brooke had been a couple of feet to my left, so we were sort of in a triangle. I know, this is unimportant information, hehe..I just like to make a complete picture for myself. :P Anyway, Brooke was still talking when Geoff moved over to my right, so I only spared a glance at him before returning my attention to her. When she finished, I turned to look at Geoff just as he was reaching out a hand to wave in front of my face. Then he said, "Oh, cheer up!" and went back to fronting the shelves.

At any rate, since I don't feel like typing anymore and you probably don't feel like reading more of this, he and I are going to be doing something Wednesday. ^___^ He'd mentioned yesterday that Wednesday would be the only day he could do something with me outside of work, but I wasn't sure if he was serious or not. But when I jokingly said today that I'd wait for him if he wanted to do anything after work, he said, "What about Wednesday?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!"

He turned from what he was doing. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine! Assuming you remember, anyway," I couldn't help teasing.

So yeah, with luck, he'll remember and he'll call me or something! He has off on Wednesday, and unless Jason tells me to come in at 5 with Mom (which I don't think he'll do, since he's got a full staff working that day), I'll have off as well. Wouldn't it be nice to spend the whole day together? A very nice send-off, if I do say so myself. *giggles* But this'll be his first day off since that whole stupid C-SOP thing happened, so no doubt he'll want to sleep in. He deserves it, though, so I'm not going to go all whiny and selfish. ;)

My Mom is watching Shaggy on TV. This is HIGHLY unusual, and so I'm going to have to go investigate. I don't even like Shaggy, and I know she doesn't, either! :P

Later note: That was really disturbing. I think my retinas have been permanently burned with the image of him bumping and grinding...and I'm going to have nightmares from it.