4.16.2008

Date Night...or not.

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I have a week full of eHarmony meet-ups, starting with last night. Let me tell you, I had an intense conversation last night with a great woman.

The only problem was that woman was my therapist, Dr. G, and not Megan, Bachelorette #1.

In our last email exchange on eHarmony, Megan sent me her phone number and said "Call me if you want to hang out" to which I responded with "Heck ya. How's coffee on Tuesday night sound? If that sounds good, I'll call you to figure out where." Megan wrote back saying "Tuesday is great...9?" and I said "Okay! Call you then!"

Well, work has been, let's just put it this way: crazier than an asylum and busier than a brothel. We recently had to let go of a few department heads/managers, so everyone has been working harder and longer to pick up the slack. We had a tournament/auction/banquet yesterday, which meant I had to be there to help set up and because of the recent personnel moves, I'd have to be there to see the entire event through. So when 8 PM rolls around (aka Hour Thirteen) and I realize I am far from leaving work, I decide to call Megan and fill her in on my situation and also figure out where we were meeting. Of course, she doesn't pick up (but really, I don't blame her...maybe she's a call-screener like me) so I leave a message telling her that I'm going to be at work for at least another 30 minutes, but that as soon as I can get out of there I'll head home, shower and meet her for our date. I even let her know I can make it the entire way to Solana Beach, no need for us to meet in the middle.

When my BlackBerry showed 8:45 PM and returned phone call, I started panicking. I finally got out of work a few minutes before 9 o'clock. I got home, showered and got ready. Still no missed call. Now what was I to do? Call her? Shit, would I look like John Favreau from Swingers? Then again, how can the date even take place if we never even speak to each other? Screw it, I'll call again, see if it's still on or perhaps reschedule for another day. No answer again. Panic sets in. I left a half-hearted message, telling her sorry that it was so late and maybe we could meet up later in the week.

After I hung up and realized I was all dressed up with nowhere to go, I started to feel like shit. It was the feeling of "Fuck, I love my job too much and it just ruin what could have been a great night" which, after a bit of sulking turned to "Fuck, running late or not, I just got stood up."

It was then that I picked up the red emergency phone and called Dr. G. I told her the situation, my feelings, etc. She had no idea I had dates lined up for the week and told me that it was just one date, that I had two more girls to meet. It was a good 30 minute conversation about women and work.

I'll try to put it behind me but help me God, if my job (and my workaholism) cost me another date, I'm gonna get medieval on someone's ass. We'll see how tonight goes with Kristie, Bachelorette #2.

2 comments:

Adam and Myisha Partridge said...

Your job is not only killing you Joe it's killing me. It's killing US! You never call me back anymore.
Seriously, your workaholism is really driving me nuts. I don't understand why you can't leave when you want to. Aren't you supposed to be in charge? Are the people you work with THAT incompetent that you can't leave them alone for a second?
Either get a new job or hire people that can live without you for a few minutes.

Joe said...

Hey, I called *you* today! (I'll call ya back tomorrow.)

And yes, I can leave "whenever I want to." So can a General in the middle of a war but that wouldn't be very mature or responsible, now would it?

And yes, I'm comparing my job to war. "I'm a fucking soldier!"