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Think you've had a bad day? I'll bet I can top just about anyone's. This was not a monumental bad day. I didn't lose my job, I wasn't diagnosed with a disease, I didn't lose a loved one, and I am still happily married. If you have had a monumental bad day, I'm sorry. Mine was just the garden variety, with a twist that comes with working in a school. The day started early because my husband and I had to take our van to the mechanic. It's 14 years old, though it has a mere 100k miles on it, so we expect it to have problems from time to time. We keep it because it's been payment-free for nine years, I have a 2 1/2 mile commute, and it's worth about the cost of a fast food meal in trade-in. We will drive it until it chugs to a stop on the side of the road. Anyway, I digress. We got it to the shop, but it turns out there had been a little bit of miscommunication between my husband and me. I thought we were just dropping a key in the drop box, when in fact we had to go through the whole computer check-in thing. No wonder he was pacing as I finished my hair and make-up. We would have still been on time to work had our mechanic not been waylaid by someone on the way to check our mileage. This man monopolized his time forever, which is about two minutes or more when you're running late for work! We finally got out of there, and were only ten minutes late. I work in a junior high school and settled in with the homeroom class to read. A mere five minutes later I heard a strange sound over my left shoulder. A boy stumbled forward spewing breakfast as he went (and suffering humiliations galore in front of a class of 12-year-olds, who were actually quite compassionate). He showered the floor twice before making it to a waste basket, and being helped to the office. Later the custodian was cleaning up the mess and a coworker commented about how badly the chair had been hit. She looked at me and asked, "Wasn't that where you were sitting?" Indeed it was. I had been the innocent victim of overspray. My hair, my pants, and the shirt I bought yesterday and had worn for nearly two hours were all direct hits. I went home to wash my clothes, and wash my hair twice (which didn't seem nearly enough), before returning to work. A few more bad things happened during the day, but it's hard to worry about them after being sprayed. (Unless, of course, you count the time I was on elementary bus duty and a little first grader tugged on my sleeve and said, "Excuse me, but that dog is peeing on your leg." And indeed he was. Only in a school!)
PS In accordance with Murphy's Law, I just got a call to say the van has essentially chugged to a stop on the side of the road. A couple grand in repairs doesn't sound like a good deal on a 14-year-old van! Alas! Let the car payments begin!