The exercise:
Write about something that goes: above and beyond.
Back to work I go, tomorrow.
Mine:
Whenever I've worked the weekend before having to clean Town Hall on Monday, I've tried to get some cleaning done ahead of time. The washrooms at minimum, anything beyond that when I've had the time. Anything to make the end of day clean on Monday more manageable.
On weeks when I work Sunday but not Monday, I've tried to get a few things done for Tammy as well. And when it's the other way around I usually ask her to do whatever she can over the weekend to make life easier for me, because it really is much too big of a job to do in the less than two hours we get to do it in.
Anyway. We've been texting each other at the end of our shifts to let the person coming back to work know of any issues or anything that might need extra attention. This evening when Tammy sent her text she slipped this one in as though it were no big deal: I cleaned Town Hall completely. You might want to check the upstairs kitchen garbage tomorrow though, just to make sure it doesn't get too smelly.
I replied back: You cleaned all of Town Hall? Above and beyond, milady.
So now, all of a sudden, I'm (pretty much) done with the office that's been the biggest pain to clean all summer. What a great, totally unexpected way to start my work week.
I remember you mentioning that the Town Hall was a big task -- do you know why you don't get enough time to do it? I can't imagine that you and Tammy have failed to feedback that the job requires more time to do. This sounds like a very generous gift from her though -- I hope that it turned out she'd run out of other things that needed doing and so she was able to address the Town Hall because of that. But either way, it does sound like she's the heroine of the tale today!
ReplyDeleteAbove and Beyond
ReplyDeleteDemeaned Thomas and Pansy Pot (her parents were... odd even by the admittedly low standards of the wizarding world: her mother was Terri but insisted everyone call her T-pot and her father was Stu and never Stuart. The pair of them ran a magazine called the Widdler that was only purchased by people with very specific interests) had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to coerce and murder house-elves. Ronnie Weasel had spent two hours being interrogated by a policeman who was apparently part of the extended Weasel clan, and had left the interview room sweating and holding parts of himself as though he'd been burned. Harry Potter had been questioned repeatedly, with most of the questions being "Can you understand me?" and "Are you sure you're sentient?" and had been utterly unfazed by the whole process. The Divination lesson was therefore short of two students, which didn't bother Miss Nomer at all.
"Did you know this would happen?" asked Lascivious Pot, Pansy's sister. She had a copy of Modern Horoscopy open on her desk. "Pansy was a Taurus you know; they're often unlucky."
"Yes," said Miss Nomer. "But that's because I was paying attention in the last lesson. And if you'd done the homework you'd know that 'Taurus' is a muggle creation; the wizarding equivalent is 'Bullshit'." Harry sniggered, and Hermione glared at him. "Right, today's lesson is about the Above and Beyond, or what muggles like to call 'Heaven'. They like the idea so much that they have multiple words for it, of which my personal favourite is 'Shangri-Lala-land'. It's very important to muggles that they and their relatives and pets all pass on to the right part of Above and Beyond and that they are happy there. So it is useful to be able to show them that they are not there and can't get there without payment."
"The relatives?" asked Ronnie.
"The pets," said Hermione, almost sweetly.
"The pets," confirmed Miss Nomer, not making eye contact with Hermione. "Muggles care much more about animals than each other. Tell them that their aunt is lost in the circles of hell and they'll start talking about the time she broke a plate from the good china. Tell them that their dead dog is limping because he can't afford paw-protectors and they'll empty their wallets into your lap. So today's lesson is about conjuring spirit animals to order. Turn to page 63, and practice Pseudopodia Exessorum in pairs, please. Hermione, you can work in a three with Ronnie and the retard."
"He's not a retard!" said Ronnie, his face turning red.
"He wasn't before Hermione decided to be his girlfriend," said Miss Nomer turning away.
"Expectosectum!" The venom in Hermione's voice made Harry curl into a fetal ball, and the jagged red light of the spell bounced off Miss Nomer leaving black smoke in its wake. It struck Hermione's table, which fell neatly in two halves.
"Very good, Miss Mangey," said Miss Nomer turning back. "So good in fact, that I'm willing to overlook that it's against school rules to attack a teacher. Or obliviate a fellow student until their brain turns to mush." She leaned over her desk and wrote a note. "Give this to Professor Slugabed and get him to teach you how to make a Horcrux."
"Why do you want to make a horsebox?" asked Ronnie, curiously. Hermione smiled.
"Don't use him," said Miss Nomer. "You'll understand when you've had the lessons, but really, no."
Greg - I think the expectations of how long it takes to clean it is unreasonable, but there's not much that we can do about it (other than do some of it on the weekend). We have to start at 7 to unlock all the washrooms, and we have to be done at 6. The office is open until 4:30 and we can't really do much while people are still working, so... yup.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's slow enough out there that I'm sure part of it was her being bored. But I'm okay with that :)
Ah, more good Harry Potter fun. So many great details make this highly enjoyable :D