One Fatal Flush

While living in Aspen I worked at the Mexican restaurant La Cantina.  That job will most likely go down as one of my best jobs ever.  Not only were the money and the atmosphere phenomenal, but the friendships I made with my coworkers are the kind that will last a lifetime.  Over my almost four years on the payroll I saw a lot of people come and go; but throughout there was a core group of us that remained as close as family.  To this day I still consider them as such, even though we are currently spread out across the country.  Darren was (and is) the fearless leader of this family, the Mama Pata if you will.  He was the kind of boss/friend that I told EVERYTHING to and often turned to for advice.

So now that I’ve given a brief background, on with the story…

My usual shift started at 3:30pm.  Often times I would be doing something around town during the day then just head in to work a little early and get ready there.  The restrooms at Cantina are located downstairs, but there is one single handicapped bathroom upstairs located near the entrance to the kitchen.  At some point it was determined that this was the “employee bathroom”.   It was here that I always changed and got ready for my shift, this day was no different.

Before changing my shirt, I took the sunglasses that are always resting on top of my head and hooked them in to my pocket so they wouldn’t fall.  My memory doesn’t allow me to recall exactly what led up to this, but somewhere during my “getting ready” those sunglasses somehow flew out of my pocket and landed with a splash right in to the toilet.

I had not used the toilet while in there so the glasses were just sitting in plain old toilet water.  Any normal human being would have just reached in, grabbed them out, rinsed them off and gone on with their lives as if nothing happened.  If I were normal, and if that’s how this story went, then it probably wouldn’t be on this blog now would it?

I went for option B.  I bolted out of the bathroom in search of Darren.  The restaurant was fairly empty at that time of day so I expected to find him just standing there wiping menus, ready to save the day.  Instead I found him talking to some customers about who knows what.  The customers’ backs were to me so I tried my best to get in Darren’s line of sight and get his attention.  I kept giving him my “It’s important, I need you” look.  I’m pretty sure he interpreted it as my “I have something really funny to tell you and I can’t wait” look and ignored me. 

After what seemed like forever, Darren ended his conversation and walked over towards me. 

“D!  I need your help!  I know this is going to sound REALLY weird, but I need you to come to the bathroom with me and see what I did,” I explained.  Surprisingly, he didn’t question me and the two of us went to investigate.

I pulled the door handle only to discover it was locked.  NOOO!!  I immediately realized that the woman who had been sitting at table 4 just 30 seconds ago had somehow snuck by me and was in the bathroom.

“Smiles, what is going on?” Darren asked.  I led him around the corner and explained what had happened. 

“Why didn’t you just take them out?”
“Because I came looking for you instead!”  DUH!

As soon as Table 4 lady exited, we both rushed in to assess the damage.  We were greeted with an empty toilet bowl.  It seemed as though the glasses were flushed with ease.  Since there didn’t appear to be any clogging, we assumed all was right with the world again; I giggled, Darren shook his head saying, “oooh Smiley, Smiley, Smiley.  You crazy.”  And we moved on with our lives.

The next day I had off so I went down valley to do some shopping.  Early afternoon I received a phone call from the manager on duty at Cantina.  He was calling to inform me that because of my sunglass flushing incident the toilet in the employee bathroom was overflowing and flooding the area.  Apparently one of the other employees on duty hadn’t heard about the incident and used the facilities to go #2.  The combination of her actions with my sunglasses caused a blockage in the pipes and thus the overflowing.  The manager said it was severe enough a problem that a plumber was called; he just thought I should be aware since I was partly to blame.  It didn’t sound too serious and a plumber was on his way, so again, I figured all was right with the world and I went on with my day. 

A few hours later I got a call from Darren, “You need to get in here.”  He didn’t sound his normal chipper self, and he didn’t call me by my nickname…this can’t be good.

Upon arriving back at Cantina I was greeted by a straight-faced Darren, “Come with me.  I want you to see what you’ve caused.”  Apparently the clog from earlier in the day required the plumber to snake the drain.  When the snake met the sunglasses in the drain it caused the device to jerk back.  The backlash of the jerk did this…

Oops!!

Thankfully this incident wasn’t what ended my Cantina career.  I don’t know what it was that made Darren show mercy on me for this very expensive mistake.  Perhaps it was because a family’s love is unconditional, you stick together through thick and thin.  Or perhaps it was because he figured keeping me around was the best way to get repaid.  Whatever it was, I’m grateful for it.  It would have been quite the shame if I had lost that job to one fatal flush!

A Girl's Best Friend

One year ago today was one of the worst days of my life.  I had to say goodbye to the love of my life, Pippen.  So today's post is a picture tribute to her.  Thanks for 16 great years!!

Me and my baby

 

Wearing her winter coat in the snow

   

Her 3rd birthday and her 15th birthday

  

My little football player

My little patient

   

Seriously, how cute is she!??!?!

Copenhagen Keys

During my time in Europe, I took advantage of my location and seized every opportunity I could to travel.  Accompanying me on every one of my trips, except two, was my very good friend Esmeralda (who from here on will be referred to as E).  We made great travel buddies and got very used to each other’s quirks. 

Our spring break that year happened to fall on the week of St.Patty’s Day.  So our plan for this extended break from school was as follows:  a group of us flew out to Ireland for a few days to tour the countryside and celebrate the holiday.  From there E and I went on to Scandinavia.  We spent two days in Denmark visiting friends, two days in Sweden, two days in Norway, then back to Denmark for two days, and rounded out the trip with two days in London.  (Although due to a currency conversion mishap in Sweden we ran out of money to get us downtown London and ended up spending the two days at Stansted airport.  But that’s a whole different story.) 

And while we’re on the subject of Scandinavia, I’d like to note that this part of the world is where all the pretty people come from.  Denmark is full of the world’s MOST beautiful people.  I’m telling you, they are ALL gorgeous.  E and I spent a lot of time people watching and saying “Seriously, how can this many people be this good looking?!?”  So if you ever have the chance to go to Scandinavia, take it.  You won’t be sorry!

Anyway, this story occurred while E and I were visiting Denmark for the second time.  We were very good at stretching our money while traveling and being that Scandinavia is so expensive, we took overnight trains and buses between countries to save on paying for a hostel.  Once we arrived in our destination country we usually found our hostel, dropped off all our stuff, took quick showers, and then began our adventures.  This instance was no different.

(Copenhagen, Denmark...aka Land of the Pretty People)

As I mentioned before, this was our second time through Copenhagen on this trip.  The first time we stayed in a hostel that was more towards the outskirts of the city; this time around we found a very nice one right downtown.  Like most hostels, there weren’t individual bathroom facilities but a communal bathroom shared by all those on the floor.  So E and I got to our room and gathered our stuff for the shower.  The showers were not too far away and there didn’t seem to be many people on the floor so it was much easier for us to undress in our room and walk to the bathrooms in just our towels.  E was ready first and as she left the room she said, “I’ve got the shampoo and conditioner, make sure you bring the key with you when you leave.”  I told her I wouldn’t forget and I’d see her there.  As I said, E was used to traveling with me and knew there were moments (VERY rarely) that I could be a little spacey, so she said again, “Seriously, make sure you bring the key.”  I held up the key card to prove I had it, “I’m only in charge of this and my towel, I think I can handle it.”

Feeling refreshed after showering, we walked back to the room together in our towels.  We got to the door and every attempt of the key was met with a flashing red light.  CRAP!!  I could feel the look E was giving me.

“I thought you said you had the key”
“I do!! This has to be our key!  See, it says Copenhagen on it”

That’s when I realized my mistake.  The key was in fact from our hostel in Copenhagen, but not the one we were currently standing in…in nothing but small towels.  The key I brought to the shower with me was the key from our first hostel, and no matter how hard I tried, it wasn’t going to open the door to our current room.

E was no stranger to these rare moments of mine so she didn’t get mad (but she wasn’t giggling like I was) instead she just stood there giving me her “Esmeralda look” and said, “Well why are you just standing there?  Go down to the lobby and get us a new key.  You did it, you fix it.”

I of course did NOT want to walk down to the lobby in my shower sandals and towel to get a key…at least I didn't want to go alone.  After a few minutes of pleading, E finally agreed to ride the elevator down with me.  But she was not leaving the elevator and she was not doing the talking.  That was fine with me, I just didn’t want to fly solo.

So we both got on the elevator, me giggling all the way.  The doors opened to the lobby and, of course, it was packed with people waiting to check in.  I knew there was no changing E’s mind about accompanying me to the desk, so I hesitantly stepped out and tried to find the most discreet way to get a key without waiting in line.  Luckily one of the front desk guys noticed me (I’m pretty sure everyone noticed the half naked girl with dripping wet hair) and walked over to the end of the desk.

“You need a new key don’t you?”
“How’d you guess??”

With my replacement key in hand, I scurried back to the elevator where E was patiently waiting, along with a few new additions to the car who also happened to be staying on our floor.  After just a couple more awkward moments we finally made it back in to the room (and to all our clothing) where we got ready for the next chapter in the adventures of E&C (also known as the adventures of A&C ;) )

p.s. I apologize for the lack of posts last week...life was a little hectic...I will try to not let it happen again!! 

Hula Oops!

During my Junior year of high school, my mom had to go to Hawaii for work.  That year I didn’t really have much of a spring break, so she invited me to tag along with her.  She would have to work during the days but our hotel was right on the beach so I shouldn’t have any problem keeping myself occupied.  I don’t have much patience when it comes to just laying in the sun, so after some exploring I found a whole book of activities offered daily by the hotel.  JACKPOT!

(Our hotel)

One of the activities that looked interesting to me was Hula Aerobics.  It was to be held the next morning 9:00-10:00am outside in the courtyard.  It sounded so fun, I couldn’t wait.  My mom didn’t have to leave for her appointment until 9:30 so she said she would come with me and watch for at least a few minutes, maybe take a picture or two.

So the next morning I got up nice and early and got ready for my aerobics class.  I was a little nervous because I didn’t pack any “work out” clothes or shoes; if it got too intense I may be in trouble.  It took us a little longer than anticipated to get down to the courtyard.  I started freaking out because I HATE being late for things.

We finally made it to the courtyard.  I saw the class warming up and stopped dead in my tracks; my mom burst out in laughter.

“That’s the class you wanted to do?”

Standing in the middle of the courtyard was a woman who was easily 70 years old.  She was surrounded by 10 or 12 kids, the oldest not a day over 9.  I wanted to turn around and go back to the room.  Between giggles my mom said, “Katie you can’t just quit.  You said you wanted to do the class.  Just go join them, it could be fun.”

Reluctantly I walked over and stood at the back of the class.  All the other parents tried their best not to stare.  I’m sure they just assumed I was a special child.  My mom didn’t help matters much.  She just took pictures the WHOLE time, clapping and saying how proud she was.

(I'm the old one to the right)

10 mins later the class was over.  I got out of there as fast as I could.  My mom got a better workout than I did from all her laughing.  The only thing I learned from the class is to make sure and research before
signing up for anything!


FOOTNOTE
An additional interesting fact:  we had to check out of our hotel room a day early because the cast of Baywatch Hawaii was coming to town and they needed the room.  Who needed our room you ask??  Well none other than THE David Hasselhoff!!  Clearly they didn’t realize ‘he’ was already staying there!  Oh the irony!!

Beano's Wake Up Call

I moved to Italy in August of 2002.  My parents made the trip over with me and for the two weeks before I had to report to school we toured the country I was to call home for the next year.  One of the stops along the way was Portofino.

(Portofino, Italia)

We spent the day exploring and in the afternoon stumbled upon a fabulous outdoor café.  We had a couple hours before our dinner reservation so we decided to enjoy a bottle of wine and watch the world go by.  One bottle turned in to two and the next thing you know we are friends with the owner of the café and he made us promise to come back for some limoncello after dinner.  We got to dinner and Beano decided to bet me $100 dollars that I couldn’t go the entire meal speaking only Italian to the waiter.  I don’t think Beano has ever met a bet he didn’t like, but this one was particularly ridiculous because even if I couldn’t win (which I always do ☺) most of the talking to the waiter involved using words I could read off the menu.  Needless to say, I won the bet. 

Instead of taking his money I said we should use the money on wine (it seemed like such a good idea at the time).  It should be noted that wine prices in Italy are MUCH cheaper than here in the States, and at this time the dollar was stronger than the Euro…so we were pretty successful at stretching that $100.

$100 later, after the wine with dinner and the limocello and wine we had back at the café, we decided it was time to put ourselves to bed.  During this 2 week adventure, the three of shared a hotel room everywhere we stayed.  The parents got the bed and I was usually stuck with a cot or uncomfy pullout bed.  Being that it was Europe, it was a cramped arrangement, but we made it work. 

This particular night I was on a couch just a few feet from the bed.  At around 3:00am I was awoken by the most excruciatingly obnoxious snoring EVER.  I mean it was the kind of snoring you only see in movies.  My mom is usually a pretty light sleeper so I was surprised it didn’t wake her up…I guess all the wine was to blame for that one.  At first I was annoyed but thought if I could just get my mom to nudge Beano the snoring would stop.

“MOM!!” ...nothing…”MOM!!  MOM!!  WAKE UP!!”….nothing.  My patience was wearing VERY thin.

“MOOOOOM!!!!!  SOMEBODYYYY!!!  WAKE UP!!!  MAKE IT STOOOOP!!!  MOOOOOOOOM!!”

…still nothing…

Another side note about me:  there are two ways to very quickly see a very ugly side of me 1-mess with my dog, or 2-mess with my sleep.  Unfortunately for Beano, that morning he was unknowingly testing option 2.

After what seemed like hours of yelling over the noise, trying to get my mom to help me out, I decided to take matters in to my own hands.  The fact that I was not only woken up, but now I was being forced to actually get out of bed took my anger to a whole new level.

I stormed over to Beano’s side of the bed.  I let my emotions take over and with all the strength I could muster I sucker punched Beano right in the gut!  His eyes shot open.  Terrified and confused, he couldn’t even move.  I got right up in his face and demanded he, “MAKE.  THE NOISE.  STOP!!!”  I stormed back over to my little couch, laid down, and flipped the covers back over me in a huff.

After a few minutes of complete silence Beano regained his ability to breathe.

“Katie?” he asked bewildered.
“WHAT?!?!”
“What just happened?”
“You were snoring.  Make it stop!”

I have no idea how long he laid there trying to figure out why he was just abused by his stepdaughter, grateful he didn’t have a heart attack.  But I do know that when we travel together now I always get a separate room.

Just Shake it Off

Anyone that knows me knows how much I loved my dog Pippen.  We had 16 wonderful years together, during which she was the topic of SO many stories.  So it only makes sense that she makes a few cameos here.  There are a plethora of hilarious stories involving Pippy; I was reminded of this one while searching through some old photos.

Pippen was never a lover of riding in the car; I mean the only time she was ever in a car she was either going to the vet, the groomers, or the kennel.  While she was always a nervous wreck on the way to her destination, she was an absolute nutcase when we brought her home. 

One day I went to go pick her up from a haircut.  Besides being unable to sit still, Pippen liked to get really close to whoever was in the car.  I don’t know if it was her way of saying, “I missed you, please don’t leave me ever again,” or what.  But she would get uncomfortably close sometimes.  Like I can taste your breath close.

Usually I didn’t mind her closeness and found it somewhat endearing.   But as she got older she developed a drooling problem, so her closeness wasn’t always welcomed.

During this particular incident the more I tried to get Pippen to scoot back, the closer she got…and the closer her hanging drool got.  Finally she decided the drool bothered her as well and she went to shake it off.  I saw this coming and freaked out. Terrified that I would be “slimed”, I moved my body as close to the door as I could and screamed as she frantically shook her head from side to side. 

When the shaking stopped I quickly checked my body for the drool that was no longer draped from her lip.  I couldn’t find it anywhere.  As if I expected an answer, I just kept shouting, “WHERE IS IT?!?!  WHERE IS IT?!?!”  I was so confused.  Was it in my hair??  Was I having a Something About Mary moment??

After a few minutes of complete confusion and fear, I found it.

All over her own head and ears.  She had no idea.  She just kept getting closer.  Still giving me that “I missed you” look.  The rest of the ride I just sat there giggling as she tried so hard to figure out how to get just a little bit closer.

Welcome to the Other Side of the Pond

When I first started with StyleMark, I was sent to our Polaroid lens manufacturing plant in Scotland for a couple days for training.  Originally I was booked to fly out of Boston Friday evening and arrive in Glasgow Saturday morning.  That’s actually an interesting side story…our flight took off and headed towards Newark, where 90% of the passengers had layovers before their international flights.  Normally that’s about a 45 minute flight.  An hour and a half went by and we were still airborne.  Turns out we had been circling the Newark airport because it was too windy to land.  Eventually it got to the point where we didn’t have enough fuel to continue circling, so we headed back to Beantown. All the other passengers were livid; we were all going to miss our connections. No more flights until the next morning.   Since it wasn’t necessary for me to be in Scotland until Monday, I volunteered to go home and come back the next evening to try it again.

So plans changed a little.  My coworker in Scotland that had been assigned to ‘chaperone’ me while I was there was a guy named Paul, one of our VPs.  As luck would have it, the weekend that I was arriving also happened to be the weekend that he and his family had planned a ski trip up north.  While he couldn’t be there to actually show me around, he gave me a list of great things to do.  I have never had a problem entertaining myself and love exploring new cities; so I was just fine wandering the streets of Glasgow alone.  If I had arrived on Saturday, I was going to spend that day exploring Glasgow and head to Edinburgh on Sunday for the rugby match.  Obviously that’s not how the real plans went.  Instead I spent Sunday exploring Glasgow.

I was still a little bummed out that I wasn’t able to make it to Edinburgh so I looked for a pub in which I could watch the match.  I stumbled upon a fabulous pub right downtown; got myself a Smithwicks, and found an open bench where I planted myself in front of the tvs.  After a little while two guys sat down at the other end of the bench (it was a very long bench).  One of the guys was normal looking (jeans and a long sleeve shirt).  The other guy’s outfit SCREAMED Scotland.  He was wearing a kilt, one of those Irish/Scottish hats, and a rugby polo that was literally the flag of Scotland.  I loved it!  Well it was only a matter of time before we got to chatting.  Turns out it was Mr. Scotland’s birthday (that’s what I’m calling the guy who the souvenir shop threw up on).  After about an hour they had to leave, another party was awaiting their arrival.  They invited me to go with them, but the party required us to get in their car.  My momma taught me never to get in a car with strangers so I passed on the invite, but wished them well.

(not actual photo of Mr.Scotland...the best replica I could create with my ghetto PhotoShop)

Fastforward to later that night…

Paul had left a cell phone for me to use while in Europe, but forgot to leave me a charger.  So he said he would swing by and drop one off for me once he got back in to town.  I was  having dinner at the cute little Italian restaurant right next to my hotel when Paul texted saying he was on his way to meet me.  I texted back to let him know where I was “At Antipasti. Small table right by the big glass wall.  You can’t miss me”.  (Don’t worry I refrained from jumping in to this wall)

Now this was the first time I was meeting ANYONE from our Polaroid Europe team, so I was pretty nervous.  I really wanted to make a good first impression.  Paul arrived, gave me the charger, and hung out for a little bit so we could get to know each other and discuss our plans for the next few days.  A few minutes in to our conversation I happened to glance out the glass wall.  And who do I see stumbling down the sidewalk?? Good old Mr. Scotland!

I tried to nonchalantly turn my body so just my back was facing out.  Then all of a sudden the restaurant was filled with the sounds of loud banging on the glass.  Everyone in the place turned to see Mr. Scotland frantically waving at me.  I gave him a smile hoping he’d walk away.  He walked away, but towards the door to the restaurant.  Mr. Scotland barged in the door bellowing my name, “CAITLIN!! I’m so glad I found you!!  Are you coming drinking with us?!?!?!”  For a second I didn’t say anything.  I could feel the irritated stares of other diners as well as the very confused look coming from Paul’s side of the table.

“Not sure if I’ll make it out.  This is my coworker Paul that I was telling you about.”  I thought changing the subject would distract everyone and take the attention off of me.  Thank God the lighting was bad so no one could tell how red I was turning!

After the two of them discussed the day’s match for a bit (it was a tough loss) Mr. Scotland was ready to continue on to the next pub.

“Well Caitlin, we’re all going to be at Jinty McGinty’s for the next few hours.  Come join us for a pint or two later,” and he was gone.  I turned back to Paul.  With a very perplexed look on his face he asked, “Didn’t you just arrive in town a few hours ago??  How do you know that guy??”

“Yes I did just arrive today.  That was just a friend I made while watching the rugby match today.  I tend to make friends when I’m left alone.  And Scottish people are so nice,” I tried my best to change the subject so normal color could return to my face.

Paul has since become one of my most favorite coworkers (behind Marike of course ☺) and to this day he still loves to tell that story.  I guess I succeeded in making an impression…just not quite the one I had in mind.