Trauma and Drama, All in a Day's Work

Work today was very traumatic for me. Bear with me as I delineate the issues of the day...




* I was at work for 11 hours and downtown for a total of 13 -- remember that I don't get any overtime.





* I had a meeting in the Church Office Building this morning. It began and all was well but as soon as I arrived at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for my next meeting I received a phone call -- There is a drilling noise; come make it stop! I immediately picked up the phone trying to find the responsible party as I literally ran back to the COB. Of course, by the time I arrived the noise had stopped and the client was happy.

* The Devereaux House was the site of my third meeting of the day, this one with my manager and our director. I arrived to find that nothing was set up and ready for the luncheon. Thankfully, the early-arrivers were more than willing to put things together at the very last minute. Next I went to close the front doors to keep out the rain. I wasn't paying attention as I walked away and suddenly my right index finger caught in the door as it closed. All I could think about was the little girl in my parents' ward who recently had part of her finger cut off by a door. I carefully pulled myself free and luckily have only suffered a bruise and some swelling.

* Because I knew my day would be long I planned to take a break and go to the temple for the 2:00 session. Just before leaving, a phone call to a client revealed that the meeting they had scheduled for next week was accidentally scheduled for May and now the rooms they need are not available. It took a couple more phone calls, negotiating with the scheduler, and a lot of finagling but I finally took care of the problem and missed my session. (Don't worry, I still made it to the 3:00 session.)

* This evening I had to watch over the Temple Square Performances concert: the Wasatch Trio of piano, cello, and flute. I wasn't too happy to find out that I needed to stay in the Assembly Hall throughout the concert to help move chairs and music stands but it's all part of the job. Then three minutes before show time the pianist was in a panic because his page turner hadn't arrived. The Performances Hosts asked if I could read music and suddenly I had a new job. I spent the whole concert on stage turning pages at the piano. It went well but it really is traumatic being on stage when you don't expect or want to be there and you're not dressed properly.

Happily, I survived the day but my finger still hurts and it has a red mark where the door pinched it--all unexpected hazards of event coordinating. Next Friday I am only working a half-day and I say that I more than deserve it after today. I can't wait!