Did you ever have one of those days?

Well Thursday was one of them for me. My day off (of course- those are always the days that the shit hits the fan, aren't they?). Nothing serious - just a day that I would've been better off staying in bed.

I usually get myself ready for the day and then drive Linds to school - it's across town and the bus connections are crap, as they're constructing the RAV line and it's treacherous trying to get from one end of 3 Road to the other.

Seeing that Thursday was my day off, I was being lazy and thought I'd just run her over to the school in my PJ's, as I'd planned on coming right back. Luckily my pj's kind of look like lounge/workout wear. Luckily.

I'd no sooner dropped Linds at her school and started for home when the damn car sputtered to a stop. I got it over to the side of the road and thought "o.k., here we go again". I've had ongoing issues with my car, that's cost me a fortune to date in repairs (it is a Volvo afterall).

I have a cell that I don't carry. I use it so rarely that they've disconnected me ("inactive") and I've had to reactivate it. I hate phones, that's why. That being said, I should carry one (it).

I walked to the nearest strip mall to look for a pay phone - none. There was a 7-11 however, so I went in to use the phone and call BCAA. When I entered the store and asked for the phone, the clerk replied, "no, I can't let you use it". I explained that I'd only be a minute and needed to get my car towed (I wasn't even sure I was allowed to be parked where I was) and, after some arm twisting, he reluctantly agreed to let me use it...."BUT JUST FOR A MINUTE BECAUSE IT'S CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER!!!". I quickly dialed Dad first, as I thought we could try a few things to get it going. When he didn't answer, I dialed BCAA. By this time, the Nazi store clerk had left his post behind the counter to go to the back room. I was put on hold at BCAA while they retrieved my information.

A few seconds later, the clerk reemerged to see me still on the phone. He gestured at me and said "You, get off now". I ignored him at first and pretended I didn't hear him. Then he continued, "30 seconds is the policy and you've been too long...NOW GET OFF THERE". I covered the phone and said "excuse me sir, I've got BCAA on the line and am almost done". There'd been no customers in the store and I was out of the way and not bothering anyone. And, when someone did come in to make a purchase, they used their debit card without any problem - which proved that I wasn't interfering with "business". I doubt that the phone was tied in to the computer line. Seriously.

The clerk continued his rant at me and approached me from the other side of the counter, at which point he slid the phone away from me and unplugged the cord, disconnecting my call!!! Oh, it's on now.

I said "what did you do that for, my call was nearly finished". He replied, "I don't care, you have to go now".

"EXCUSE ME??? I HAVE TO GO NOW?!!".

I was livid and, in all honesty, kind of lost it. I made a few very derogatory remarks and stormed out of the store (leaving my brand new coffee sitting on the counter).

Now what??

In the meantime, my Dad had been outside gardening and had heard the phone when I'd tried his place. He pushed "STAR 69" to connect to the last number dialed, where he reached the same clerk, who simply told him "wrong number". My dad then persisted, saying "someone from there called my number and I'd like to know who". Again, Mr. Personality said, "wrong number - this is 7-11". Finally, my Dad (also losing patience by this time) said "look, SOMEONE from that store dialed my number...have you had anyone use the phone in the past couple of minutes". It was at that point that Mr. Numbnuts finally clued in and said I had, in fact, been in there trying to call him.

I walked down the street and noticed a little church not far from my car. I was cold and near tears, as this douchebag had made my blood boil. I entered the church to see two ladies and I told them what had happened and asked to use a phone. One of them looked at me and in a serious voice said, "oh no, I'm afraid I can't do that". ?????? She then continued, "with that hat on". I quickly went to take my baseball cap off, as I thought maybe it was against church policy. I don't know, I don't do church.

She then interrupted with, "you see, it's a BC Lion's hat and my son plays for the Stampeders". Love that woman. We chuckled and talked CFL for a minute before she directed me to the phone (and offered me a hot coffee). She also announced that she'd be venturing up the street to "give that store clerk a piece of my mind for being so rude...we don't need that in our community". My hero - YGG.

Dad arrived shortly afterward and we got the car going.

And then I realized I'd lost my keys (the hook that they were on had broken).

* * * * *

PART II

Later in the day, I borrowed Dad's van to take a bunch of stuff to the thrift store. I'd put it out the day before for a charity pick up (in the blustery, rain), but the driver never showed to pick it up! So I'd hauled it back into the carport and decided I'd donate it to Mom's favorite thrift store and, after loading it all in the van, I headed down there.

Only it was 2:50 and they stopped taking donations at 2:45! Aarghhhheyowwwwwwwrrrrrrrf.

I wasn't going down without a fight. I'd had enough on this particularly shitty day and I was NOT going to take this crap back to my house. We'd been through a garage sale, a blustery pile up for a no show pick up and an hour's worth of jamming it into every crevice in Dad's van....and now it was time for us to part ways. This shit was going.

I sat in the van, waiting for the volunteers at the shop to leave so I could pile it at the back door (people do it on a nightly basis). I'd brought along plastic to cover it with and would sit and bide my time until the coast was clear.

It was then that an old music box at the bottom of one of the 800 bags of stuff started playing....in a very dead- battery, slow, annoying way. When I tried to lean over and shake a bag, the horn honked, alerting the staff to me sitting in my van full of stuff. I pretended I was reading a newspaper, waiting for someone. I smiled and waved (and, under my breath, thought "hurry the fuck up").

The drone of the dying music box just would not stop...it was torture - over and over and OVER AGAIN. My blood pressure was already through the roof (after dealing with Mr. 7-11 douchebag of the month) and I honestly thought to myself "this is probably how people go crazy...sitting in a van full of junk, trying hard to drown out the screech of a dying music box". After10 minutes of agony, I was finally forced out of the van by the monotonous, screechy sound (before I pulled all my hair [and my eyelashes] out). I went into a shop and looked around until the time had come to unload my stuff.

(While I did, two others also pulled up and unloaded crap, so I didn't feel so guilty.)

Anyhow, I arrived home about 5 hours behind schedule. The day was a write off and my bike ride that I'd been looking forward to all week just didn't happen.

See, nothing life altering here - just a day from hell. Get me back to work, where I can enjoy some level of sanity, QUICK! These days off are too painful.