Lay-off My Purse

19 March 2010

I invited myself to join my co-workers in going out to lunch today. I usually don’t go with them when they head out for lunch because, for one thing, I’m too cheap to buy lunch at a restaurant (or the cafeteria) everyday. Second, I usually have stuff I want to take care of during my break – writing this blog, running errands, reading a book, doing my homework, stuff like that. But, today, I just felt like doing something social.

In fact, so many people from my department went out to lunch together, that I joked that it was kind of like a department meeting. I was exaggerating, of course, but this has been quite the month for our department. Early in the month, one co-worker quit. Less than two weeks later, another co-worker quit. As of today, my department employs exactly 50% of the people that it employed when we were at our peak (14 from 28). And they’re gonna be announcing lay-offs soon, too, so it’s feasible the department could shrink even more. It’s feasible, actually, that I could be one of the people laid-off. So, stay tuned.

20 March 2010

Happy vernal equinox!

Today, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. While there, I asked Jennifer if she had any hand lotion in her purse. She said she didn’t, and the following conversation ensued:

ME: You have gotta have the most useless purse contents of any woman I’ve ever lived with.

SHE: You’ve never lived with any other women.

ME: Um…my sister, my mom, both my grandmothers –

SHE: Well of course they’d have the same stuff you’d need in their purses.

ME: What’s that supposed to mean?

SHE: It means they all have OCD, just like you, so they carry all that stuff you always want.

ME: Huh. That’s probably true.

Man, the passion just never ends in our relationship.

If men could carry purses, here are ten things I’d keep in my purse: my keys, my wallet, Advil, lip balm, hand lotion, a pen, a small notepad, a multi-purpose knife, a few tissues, a flask with some hard, hard liquor in it.