Fridays

Well, it's another Friday and I have managed to survive another miserably hot and humid day on the golf course. Last week, the heat index made it feel like 113F. Not so bad today, only 110F. I'd use Celsius but that just doesn't sound hot to me. I mean, 43.33C?  


But I played well enough... on the front nine. Not so well on the back. Still, good enough to get a few bucks. You don't think there isn't a little bit of money wagered on these outings? Not much... we're cheap. But losing less means winning less.


Fridays don't mean as much since I retired. They didn't mean much when I was working either... for most of the 34 years. My job was one that required someone to be on the job 7 days a week. So, we rotated our days. Each shift (days, evenings, and nights) would cover their own weekends. The smaller the shift crew, the more often you worked on weekends. Since I worked the night shift (12AM to 8AM) for much of my career, I also worked a lot of weekends since we were always the smallest crew.


On the plus side, it meant the other weekends were often longer than the regular two days.  Four day weekends are nice but you are so tired after working ten days straight that you cannot appreciate them. Especically when you work a night shift.


Night shifts aren't bad... except that the rest of the world doesn't understand you. They think you are awake during the day because, after all, they are. So they call you up, knock on your door, etc.  Even those who should know better (your boss, for instance) often think nothing of calling at 2 in the afternoon.


I had a boss who did this more than most. One day he called me on a Tuesday at around 2 PM to ask if I wanted to work on Friday (my day off that week).


Me: "Do you have to know right away?"
Him: "No, you can let me know later."
Me: "Ok, bye."
Him: "Bye."


The next morning, about 4 AM, I called his home. The phone rang for many rings...


Him: "Hello?" (sounding really sleepy)
Me: "It's Douglas, at work?"
Him: "What's wrong?" (More alert now)
Me: "Nothing's wrong, things are fine. You called me up yesterday to ask if I wanted to work on Friday, remember?"
Him: "Yes?" (now sounding wary)
Me: "Well, I don't. Thanks anyway."
Him: "You called me up at this hour to tell me that?!? You could have told me when I came in at 7!"
Me: "Yep, and you could have asked me then too. Bye."


And I hung up. He showed up 45 minutes later. Quite angry. But he never woke me up again.


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