Worcesterized Again

Well the rain held off yesterday during the afternoon hours I got to spend with the sterling people of Worcester.  Since the big change to the hub is coming in a week all of the company management and some of the union leadership spent the day down at City Hall Plaza handing out schedules and explaining the upcoming changes. 

Our Set up Yesterday at City Hall - Contending with Construction Also Going On

We do this whenever some big change is occurring and it gives us a chance to meet some of the more exotic fauna of the great city of Worcester.  I was explaining the changes to a lady who kept repeating that she lived in a homeless center.  Our HR director, who really doesn’t interact with our customers very often, piped in that the schedules are available on line.  The lady threw the schedules down and stormed off loudly proclaiming that some people couldn’t afford internet access.  The HR director was aghast as I laughed off the inappropriate response. The HR director’s adventures were not over yet as one of the intellectually challenged denizens of the area latched on to her and wouldn’t leave.  Finally a large co-worker stepped between them and asked he guy what he wanted.  This put him off his game long enough for the HR director to escape. 

Looking from the Other Side
The CAnopy Almost Blew Away Later and We Were Talking to People
While Hanging on the Rafters So It Wouldn't

95% of the people we met yesterday were awesome, just interested in the changes and very appreciative of our efforts.  The other 5%, well, they were another story.  We were invading their turf and made for stationary targets.  I met a well bearded older gentleman who claimed to have served 25 years in the air force until he was forced out in 1982.  He said he was a company commander when one of his troops “knocked up the general’s daughter”.  The general took it out on him and forced him out and blocked his retirement benefits.  I told him this sounded highly illegal and that he should get some assistance from a number of sources.  He said the general was still on active duty and blocking him.  I did some quick math and said a general in 1982 was probably retired.  He claimed the guy was 100 years old and still on active duty.  At that point I knew I was dealing with someone lost in his own fantasies.  I told him I was also a military retiree and I could see the light go out in his eyes when he realized he had been caught in his own web of lies.  Yes – these are our customers.

Back at the office, my wife’s attempt to feed me with the green bean dish of my youth was a disaster of biblical proportions.  I put the first spoonful in my mouth and immediately experienced the intense gagging reaction that I remembered when my mother forced me to eat them.  With my mother this usually led to a long night sitting at the kitchen table trying to convince the family dog to help me out.  There will be no more green beans on the menu for me.

No Mas!!!

The rains started up as soon as I headed home for our Zorbaless Friday night.  To compound the pain my wife couldn’t find the whey so there would be no pizza. She calmed my panic with a large steak – so not so bad.  I did miss the fabulous ladies of Zorba’s though.

I tried to repeat my dodging of rain showers to build the wall but came back with my latest load of stone to find a heavy rain falling.  I waited it out and finally put the last row of stone on as the sun was setting.  So the wall is finished, well except for the one stone I came up short but that is just placing it on top when I put the cap stones on.  Now all that remains is filling it in with dirt after I strip off the grass, if the rain would just stop, I could get going.

The Wall is Up!!

We’ve got a three day weekend ahead of us but half of it will be spent inside due to the weather.  There is even snow forecast for tonight – that’s right – SNOW!!!!!  But only in elevated areas of Worcester County – yep – that’s us.  I feel worse for my son who chose this weekend for a romantic getaway with the MEG – to the White Mountains of New Hampshire where they might even get some accumulation of snow.