Career endangerment, basement & Christmas hiatus

When my wife calls me at work, the first thing out of her lips (usually) is, "What are you doing?"

I like to follow this up whenever I can with a snappy reply that somehow encapsulates a concise summary of my current goings-on as well as making me sound very important.  Sometimes I succeed at that and sometimes I fail.  That's OK.  Last week when this happened, my reply to Amy's standard query was, "I'm working on something to prove somebody else wrong."

To which she said, "Oh, well then, you must really be enjoying yourself."

"Oh I am, indeed," I assured her.

Unfortunately, this week, my efforts unveiled that I was wrong and the man I had it in for was correct.  Being me, this rubbed me the wrong way (since I'm exceedingly fond of being right).  But, also being me, I felt obliged to fess up.  Since my perceived opposition in this endeavour was Muffy, the VP to whom I used to report, I was especially aggrieved because of the size of ego to which my contrite admission would be addressed.

So I had to temper my conciliatory email with the appropriate sentiment:

Muffy,

After much hand-wringing and general gnashing of teeth, I have decided to send you an early Christmas present and tell you those three little words that every wife (and executive-type) loves to hear:

"You were right."

[followed by some details as to why, exactly, he was right]

At this point I was scheduled for a late-morning meeting and was away from my desk for an hour.  I came back to his reply, and a phone message from him chastising me for not replying to his reply.  Which was:

Ha - I hope now you do not expect any other wifely things from me.  I do have a gag reflex you know.

So, when I did get back to my desk and read that, and listened to his message, and thought about how I was going to be away from the office for a week and a half anyway, I decided to rebut with:

Sorry for not replying sooner, Muffy.  I was in a meeting and could not cater to your reflex immediately.

If there are any other wifely things I'd expect from you, it was the emotional insecurity exhibited by your phone message when I didn't reply via email quickly enough.

Now, the next day, I have not received any other reply nor been issued a pink slip.  So I think I'm OK.

*****

In other news, my darling wife has posted pictures of our fully armed and operational battle station.  I mean, fully finished basement.  We're rather pleased.  Still some stuff to move back in and sort and throw out and rearrange and fight over.  But we're happy. 

First, remind yourself how it used to look by reviewing my Before Pics.  It's amazing what two months can do!  Then, go over to Amy's site and check it out.

*****

Finally, we're leaving this afternoon to spend nearly a week with my in-laws in Lethbridge, about five hours south of us -- depending on the road conditions and who's driving.  Thus, there will be no posting for a week or so.  We're back home on Thursday, probably.

Until then, have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas.  Hugs and kisses from the Fraser Clan.

Comments

[marian]

Well, damn. If you're going away I may as well quit posting altogether. Love the basement pics—totally amazing. A merry little Christmas to you and yours as well. See you in a week.

Oh, and and this? "If there are any other wifely things I'd expect from you, it was the emotional insecurity exhibited by your phone message when I didn't reply via email quickly enough."

Brilliant. Cruel, but brilliant.

[Mark]

Isn't it funny how people come to expect a quick reply, and their minds (no matter how experienced) don't imagine that you might be away from your desk. It reminds me of the commercials where one person says something potentially offensive, and the other person laughs, but the one who uttered the risky phrase hears only blank air. Of course, this gets the person worried and he or she starts the verbal back-pedal.

Anyway, although your e-mails were risky, they were, as marian said, brilliant.

Most brilliant things in life are risky.

[Moksha Gren]

I'm sorry to hear that your outrageous overconfidence was shown to be misplaced. It's probably healthy for egotistical folks like us to be occasionally reminded that our brains are indeed mortal coils capable of mistakes…but that doesn’t make it any more fun.

The basement looks wonderful. However, I couldn’t help but notice that the deep freeze is now missing. Where are you guys keeping…um...the “evidence” now?

Have a wonderful holiday. Give the boys a hug from Norah

[Jadon]

Too bad you weren't competing as a Magi/Wise Men there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVZczLuoJoU

Merry Christmas and all that, Simon!

[Émilie B]

Ah, the web of office socialization, where relationships are tweaked every which way by position, status, seniority, current/past projects and whatnot.

Kudos on cleanly admitting you were wrong - a lot of people would just try to shove the matter to the side once they realized it, or pretend it wasn't that big of a thing anyway, but in the end your conscience will feel better with an honest course of action. And if you could inject some humour into it, well...

Saw the pics on Amy's blog, commented there - the place looks great.

Happy holidays! :)

[Tal]

All the best on the drive up Fraser Clan! Merry Christmas.

[Dave]

Simon,
Muffy is a man? *LOL* What kind of a name is that???

Merry Christmas to you and your famliy.. see you when you get back!
Dave