Hard work rewarded by a stay of execution

The big project I'm working on has had me tied up in knots the past couple of days. I've been trying to spend every on-the-clock moment working on it to get something ready for the client by the end of the day. When he dropped by four hours early to take a look at a proof, I was only 80% done, and had nothing printed out for him to look over. The dark cloud and the silver lining of this situation is he won't be able to be back to look at a proof until Monday morning. Good for me, because I can take my time to some extent getting everything ready. Bad for me because we'll be in a production rush to meet the deadline next week.

This project came with practically no warning, and jumped to the front of the line. So, not only have I been hard pressed to get the project done, I've had to try to smooth things over with the other clients whose work I've had to delay. I've managed to be diplomatic in almost every case, but there have been a couple times where the veins in my temples said more than words ever could.

Oh, well...a few weekend hours and everything will be right as rain again.

I worked a little overtime tonight, but soon tired of looking at a computer screen. I decided to treat myself to some take-out. I went into the restaurant, placed my to-go order, abused my complimentary beverage privileges, and waited for my food. The guy who ordered directly after me got his food and left. Then, the lady after him got her food and left. Something was off, here.

Two more people after me got their food before the manager noticed that I was still there. I was in no rush, nor was I starving, so I felt no need to raise a stink over it. I didn't need to, because it was at this time that the manager apologized profusely that my order ticket got lost. He then handed me a ticket for a free meal next time I come in.

I wouldn't say the theme for the day was the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but rather the driver tried a different gear and the squeak was ultimately avoided.

Or maybe I'm just lucky. And the Powerball jackpot is up to $300 million. Hmmm... Maybe a QuikTrip run is in order, and I've got some birthday money left over.