Yeah, I kind of knew I would be late when I couldn't get out of the house soon enough to get McDonald's, eat McDonald's, and punch in in time.
Actually ... I was going to lump in all the bullshit that happened to me in one blog post, but now that I think about it, why don't I increase the number of entries I have on WAF by breaking them up?
So I got out of the house about five minutes earlier than usual. I needed more time than that, and I knew it. But even though I actually got up out of bed and didn't hit the snooze button two more times, I was still dawdling because, well, morning. I knew that the extra trip to Mickey D's was another variable that, if things didn't go my way, would jeopardize my chances of getting to work on time. And yet I was able to drive through McDonald's and order my hash browns and McMuffin (for which I got my large coffee for free through the app -- I think I got my issues with that application ironed out) and get to work at a not-too-bad time. And I would have been able to eat my food and clock in just in time. ...
... except for one thing. I was coming in to fill in for someone, and therefore I could come in at 9. Being able to sleep in is a good thing. Another good thing, or at least I thought, was the ability to find a parking space at the front, highway-facing side of the building because the department I was working in yesterday, The Third Department, is much, much closer to the doors on that side of the building. Normally I would park on the other side because there are many more empty spaces back there when I come in at my usual time of 7 ... and I just realized that there is a big blog post I should have written about the new pandemic-related policy for coming into work.
I'm sidetracking myself. Anyway, I had my Mickey D's and my plan was to drive to the front side of the building, park, eat and go in. But I was blindsided that I couldn't find a damn parking spot anywhere close to the door I had to go through. You see (and this goes back to the blog post I should talk about), current work policy tells all employees to pile through one door when they're reporting for work because as of Tuesday, one nurse is set up at that door to take the forehead temperature of everyone coming in. My theory is that with that change, several people who would normally park in the back and come through the doors in the back (I did that before the pandemic began) now park in the front because it's closer to the door they now have to go through. Which sucks for me; the spots that would be open in the front -- and there would be by 9 because I'm sure there are at least a couple people who work graveyard shift -- are now all taken up. The closest ones I saw, in my estimation, are equidistant to the door as are spaces in the back of the building -- which is where I eventually had to park.
I took about five minutes to eat my hash browns and McMuffin. But if you combine the extra time to drive very slowly to find a parking spot in the area I wanted to park, the extra time to drive around the building, and the extra time to walk back to the front of the building to punch in ... shoot, it was probably three minutes at least and possibly five. If I had been able to save those three-to-five minutes, I would have been on time.
But instead I was late for a shift when I theoretically should not have had any issues reporting to work because I could sleep in an extra two hours. There shouldn't be any warning from my boss because it's been some time since I was this tardy and I haven't made a bad habit out of it. I kind of don't want to take responsibility for this instance of tardiness because I could not process all the changes that I believe occurred because of this new pandemic-related work policy. But maybe, the next time I get breakfast at McDonald's before reporting to work, I should get out of the house even earlier than I did so I won't be affected by surprises such as the one I faced yesterday morning.
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