ways to freak me out at work

i may have mentioned once or twice or 879 times how i'm not the biggest fan of my current job. which is why when i got a phonecall from my boss this week, who prefaced the conversation with "um, are you alone at your desk right now? ok.. good.. um... i need to talk to you about something," i got very nervous. i haven't been the most, uh, diligent worker the past week or so - i STILL haven't gotten those nefarious test results back yet, for one thing, so the ol' attention span is not what it used to be. plus, my workload is starting to get just depressing, as opposed to alarming, and also, did i mention i work in finance? EW.

also, i had this sort of mild feud a while back with a highly heinous coworker. she's awful. i usually don't have problems with people, but if you're going to be a straight-up bitch to me and condescend publicly in emails with several important people copied in? NO MA'AM. (incidentally, i'm not the only one who has problems with this wench. i've had to take over several of her accounts, due to the fact that the managers on those accounts have gone to our boss and announced they will not work with said wench, ever, finite, period. so it's not just me. she's wenchy.)

but. anyway. i get this phonecall, and my first thought is, "oh shit, someone noticed i'm not working very hard. maybe my accounts have been complaining? FUCK I'M GETTING FIRED." second thought is, "oh shit, did he somehow hear me badmouthing The Wench? FUCK I'M GETTING FIRED."

after a few more agonizing moments of "yes... so... i need to talk to you about something. confidentially. ok?" i finally get to the meat of the conversation: i'm getting a rather startlingly large raise. out of nowhere. a 17% raise, in fact. granted, when you make very little, 17% of that is also fairly little, but DUDE! 17%!!! that's freaking awesome!!

you also have to remember i came from a failing airline before this job, where a "raise" meant "we'll skip you on the pay cuts this time, congratulations!" so an ACTUAL RAISE, wherein my paycheck actually gets larger? like, noticeably so? big deal! also awesome! and amazing!

it also makes a crappy job a seem a little better when you're getting paid more, and also when i realize that although i really dislike it, i apparently do a bang-up job at it anyway. the ol' integrity felt rewarded at that.

to celebrate, i will be DRINKING MYSELF SILLY this weekend, since i'm off antibiotics, and i'm going to state college, pa, to visit an old college bud. drunken times to ensue, i hope. have a lovely weekend, everyone :-)