Rising to the Occasion of the Empty Office Halls

I love the empty office during the holiday weeks.  The halls are quiet and the well trodden carpet can absorb the little noise that drifts down the halls.


I can focus on my office and spend some desperately needed time cleaning and uncluttering the desk, credenza, table and the bookshelf ( I am sure that I had a great reason for saving this, blackmail? documenting some momentous event? cool doodles on the side?)

It is a time to look at the plant given me the week I started seven years ago.  The poor thing would appreciate a tad of fertilizer and a serious trimming.  It is amazing that it has lived this long in a little bowl with no drain and artificial light.  The rings on the desk where the water missed the bowl could use a shining as well.


The positive thing is that the coffee pot is not emptied before you get back, but the burners are turned off by the over protective secretary down the hall.  Geez, we can't have the coffee sit for too long or the building burns down? (does she know I am the fire captain for my area?) I hear her at the receptionist telling her how the coffee pot was full and no one is drinking it and it is such a waste.  The funny receptionist goes on and on about Christmas dinner and the presents her mother gave to the children and nutcrackers are still real in her family and the nuts are really still cracked and the children don't appreciate where all the nuts come from.......  The secretary leaves to get tea.  I will have to remember that strategy.

Since the phones aren't ringing and the internet is faster, I am pretty sure that the amount of real work getting done or left to do is not the issue of the day.  The real issue is that "I am here and others are not.  So, since I have made this monumental sacrifice to stay, I just get to do the office version of couch surfing when the phone doesn't ring" kind of attitude.  People aren't overly engaging, unless you are unlucky enough to run into the secretary or the receptionist.

Lovely though, is the bathrooms are clean and stay that way. And also,the kitchen is clean and sort of stays that way after I load the dishwasher.

I did get time to do the extra thinking, to watch that training video that I have put off for three weeks.  I listened to the the budget class that I paid for, but did not actually watch. caught up on the fleeting last minute to do lists that were left undone by December 23rd ( and we did not get any of that done yet still).

And the best part of the empty office is that I break out my Christmas leftovers and pop them in the microwave and eat them with aplomb.  I savor the sweet potato chipolte dish that I made and no one else liked.  I warm the feta scones that were extra and a piece of ham that was set aside (by me!). And I can eat without a phone or a person asking me something and I am actually reading and enjoying the time.

Yep, Christmas week at work, almost like an extra gift!