random thoughts – Day 1,373 – (Wednesday) – swap it

On Wednesdays, the entire Sales and Marketing team is onsite at work and once a month we gather for a meeting. Today’s meeting was designated as a holiday social lunch event with a Yankee Swap gift exchange.

The main work surface in the office, an island with cabinet storage is dubbed “the altar” because it isn’t uncommon for it to hold various food offerings. Today, the food started with homemade Oreo cookie truffles, pizzelle waffle cookies, and later, pretzel squares with chocolate and caramel. 

Ready for the Yankee swap!

By lunchtime the altar held 16 wrapped/bagged gifts for the Yankee Swap plus stacks of pizzas, salads, and appetizers including chicken tenders, broccoli cheese bites, and steak and cheese spring rolls. We stood around chatting and stuffing our faces. 

When it was time for the gift swap, it got comical. The marketing head and the sales head set up the numbers and we began drawing for the order. I drew number 4, but it was soon discovered that there was a blank slip, and two of this number and two of that number and not enough numbers overall. The slips were collected, the numbers were rewritten, and the jokes were cracked. This time I drew number 15 of 16.

The coveted beer.

There were some gifts that proved desirable. A craft beer assortment was swapped for prosecco. Then the beer was taken by a beer lover who was pleased with the collection. He didn’t have it for long before it was taken from him. Before the taker could explore the assortment it was lost again. To me. I took it. And I didn't feel bad about it. Sorry guys. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Luckily, I got to hang on to it. The only thing that beats a craft beer assortment is craft beer I don’t have to go out and shop for. 

Decorated.

After work, several of us went to Cobblestone’s to meet up with a former colleague who is home for Christmas. There were laughs and drinks near the garland festooned beveled-edge mirrors and tin ceiling. 

The first time I went to Cobblestone's, not long after starting at the bank, the light fixtures had leaded tiffany style lampshades. There was a redecoration along the way and now the lighting looks like boring-ass colonial lanterns.

The thrill of craft beer victory was replaced by homeowner angst when I arrived home. It was the end of the fun and reindeer games for me beginning the minute I walked into the house.

The sound of a motorized something greeted me as I opened the door, laden with a heavy shopping tote filled with the beer and candy treats from colleagues. The whirring was punctuated by the chirp of the still not replaced carbon monoxide /smoke detector in the basement. The motorized sound was the sump pump pumping away and not automatically stopping when the pit was empty. Ugh. For a day when it didn’t even rain, the basement has more puddles than two days ago when it did. And unlike previous efforts, the chirp didn’t stop when the reset button was hit. 

All I see are dollar signs and it's blinding. Yay. Maybe Santa can bring me a pile of money. Or a handyman. Or pull a Yankee swap for a different house on higher ground. Any of these would be acceptable at this moment. Or maybe I could just run away.

I suppose if I drink all the new beer, it would temporarily blot out the chirping, the pump, and the puddles, but that would make for a terrible work day on Thursday. And it still wouldn’t solve the problems. Ugh.