random thoughts – Day 1,861 – (Monday) – in the office

Today became an in-office day instead of a remote day, thanks to Comcast. Thanks to good communications, it wasn’t a surprise.

A couple weeks ago, a letter arrived from Comcast with an alert that there would be work in the area in the next few weeks and that more info would arrive closer to the date. Last week, a text message came with the tentative date of today and promising confirmation the day before. Yesterday morning, a text came with the potential start time, which could be as early as 6 a.m.

Normally, on Monday, I work remotely and might cut corners. You know, like skipping a shower or not blow drying and styling my hair. The timeline is different, because I don’t need to leave to drive downtown and at the work start time I can walk to the desk. 

Flowering trees on John Street.

When I went to bed Sunday night, I reminded myself that in the morning I needed to shower, dry and style the hair, dress for the office, and get out of the house in a timely manner, like a regularly scheduled office day. I could also have made the decision to work remotely, cross my fingers  and hope the service interruption was before work, or during lunch, or was brief. There was the risk I might have to dump a task on a colleague. 

All the things were done and I got out the door on time. Because it’s school vacation week, the ride was easy, and then I found a parking spot on the second level of the garage. The trees are flowering and downtown is looking fresh and lovely. I had solved Wordle in two guesses. It was starting out as a pretty good day.

At 9:00, a Comcast text informed that work was beginning and service would be out. I was in the middle of a review that has a small timeframe for completion and was glad I had gone to the office. At 11:00, another came that work was completed and service should be restored. 

Had I been working remotely I would have missed my rotation for the review and a team touchbase meeting. And more importantly, the cupcakes and cannoli brought to the office by a colleague. Time was spent clearing out a desk drawer. Lots of notes from meetings five or six years ago were tossed. Overall, it was a decent day.