Interesting Things That Have Happened to Me at the Office
As most of you who are reading this know, I have been at Bordas & Bordas for almost 27 years. I wrote about a lot of the technological changes that have occurred since 1987 and I have to say, I am proud of myself, the dinosaur, for keeping up! However, I have a few stories that actually have nothing to do with law, but are funny, some more in retrospect than they were at the time.
One day, when I had been here about a year, I came to work and Jim Bordas met me at the door. He told me I had to go downtown and bail our maintenance man out of jail. I had never even been in a police station, let alone bail someone out of jail. I was running around frantically trying to find out where I needed to go and how much money I needed and what he had been charged with, etc., etc. Jim was no help - he didn't know how to go about it, but just that I needed to go do it. As I was walking out the door, mumbling to myself, Jim said "APRIL FOOL!" After my heart settled down to a regular rhythm, we both got a good laugh out of it.
Linda Bordas' brother came to visit one time and brought his pet pig with him. I don't remember the pig's name, but at that time we had Ivy and Daisy in the office, the Bordas' Springer Spaniels. So I got a Snausage treat for the pig. Unfortunately, he had not had lessons in manners like Daisy and Ivy did and he just grabbed the treat, biting my finger in the process. I had to go the doctor and get a tetanus shot. Can you imagine having the doctor ask how I hurt my finger and hearing "I got bit by a pig?" Well read on, it gets better!
Some time later, I came to work the morning of our staff Christmas Party at Oglebay. It was a snowy morning and I came in the side door, dressed in my Christmas best, with expensive color-coordinated hose to match my outfit, slipped on the door jamb and fell with a tremendous bang. I hit so hard, the building shook. I cracked my head on the floor (no comments about how that shouldn't have hurt my head) and somehow cut my leg and tore my beautiful hose. Off to Doctor's Urgent Care this time. The doctor came in, checked my head, looked at my leg, cleaned up the cut and then asked me if I had had tetanus shot and when. I looked at Sandra, the secretary who had taken me to the doctor and said "I think it was when the pig bit me." He looked alarmed since I had also hit my head. Sandra, thank goodness, told him I was all right, I really did get bit by a pig at work. I told him I was upset about my hose being torn so he put a Christmas bandage on my hose.
Another time (and you are going to wonder how I've survived all this time), one of the staff was playing with the dogs. The rug had moved until it was halfway up the door. I came up the back steps this time and opened the door, took a step in and down I went. I had no idea what had happened. One minute I was walking in the door, the next minute I was on the floor. After taking stock of all my body parts, I decided I was not hurt, but that I should take some Motrin to ward off pain. I asked Jeanne Dedo to please make me some instant oatmeal so I could have something on my stomach when I took the Motrin. Jeanne was terribly upset about my fall and went to get me the oatmeal. She came back with the oatmeal in a cup, stirring it like crazy. She stirred and stirred and stirred. Finally, I said, "Jeanne I think it is stirred enough." We still get a laugh out of that.
Now the most embarrassing story of all! The office where I worked had a wooden shelf. One day I was leaning against it and got a splinter. You can take a guess where. Mary Jo Graebe worked with us at that time and she and several other employees had gone to lunch at TJ's. I called the restaurant and asked to speak with Mary Jo. I told her what had happened and asked if she could stop and get some tweezers and alcohol so when she got back, she could remove the splinter. It was pretty imbedded! We all got a laugh out of that too. And no, I didn't keep the splinter as a souvenir.
Just remember, this is all over a long period of time. I am half-way afraid to say this, but I have been office-accident free for quite a while!
I think if most of us who work in any job in any company for many years would look back, we would find a lot of things to remember and laugh about. Frequently, we tend to focus on the not so funny things, the negative things, in our lives and in our jobs. But if we really stop to think, there are good, funny, and sometimes touching things to remember too.
