Hi there, guys and dolls, workday Wednesday is already here! And what a doozy it is. You see, all kinds of mayhem happened while the boss took a little vacation out of town. Not that we don’t get up to nothing and nonsense when he’s there. In fact, we’re not really sure who he is exactly. There’s this portly man who runs walks around like he owns the joint, smokes a cigar, makes a few indecipherable commands, signs some papers and leaves. So, we figure he’s the boss. Anyway, he wasn’t around much this week, and let me tell you what we got up to.

It all started when the bottle on the water cooler ran out. Well, nobody knew where the refill was, including the so-called water boy, whom we believe the sole occupation for this fine, spotty young man is to go around the building replacing cooler bottles. Anyhoo, the bespectacled youngster we nabbed walking through the secretarial pool had no idea what we were talking about (to be honest, nobody recognized him, so maybe he wasn’t the water cooler kid, who knows). So we called on Big Bertha to take charge. Now Bertha’s about 6 feet tall and almost as wide. She runs the office in the most friendly, yet assertive manner. Heart of gold, but hoo boy, don’t get on her bad side. Say a junior exec gets a little more familiar than a steno girl wants, or the boss denies a raise. We call her in and let’s just say, they see things her way.

Okay, so Bertha’s thirsty and sends this young freckle of a boy to get the water replaced pronto. He skipped to it and goodness, he found a bottle fast off in the corner from one of the bigwig’s offices. He replaced it promptly and fled the command of Bertha before she could find him other things to do (still have no idea who he was). And didn’t he do a fine job. Turns out it was just a little bit of bubbly!

And as soon as word got out, the lineups to the cooler were around the floor, snaking through the secretarial and steno pools, and wouldn’t you know that Jill and Frank were hovering as usual, although before long they were sagging off and napping in the corner. And what fun the shenanigans became! There were the mail cart races (Tim and Midge one by a nose, literally over Sam and Madge, although there was controversy due to the fact that Midge’s nose was so big it crossed the typewriter ribbon finishing line just over Madge’s ample, er, chest. The desk hurdles were great fun ’til someone almost lost an eye (got to watch those letter openers) and passing the paperweight (think of that pass the orange game, body to body and you’ve got it) was a regular laugh riot. Of course, there were a few things I wanted no part of, such as brassiere and girdle slingshot shot-put (those suckers had to stay on; for god’s sake, I remove them, I’d never get my wiggle dress done up to get home) or a round of kick the pickle, for even after it was explained to me, I still don’t know what the heck that was or where anyone found an enormous pickle in the office in the first place.

About 4 o’clock, the cooler was drained again, and we all started winding down. Most of us stumbled out by usual quitting time, although there may be a few still there, pulling in an all-nighter at the office (rumor has it that another bottle was found, but that may be an urban legend).

So, how was your day?

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more posts. And don’t forget to give my Poppy Cove Mysteries a try if you haven’t already.

Toodles, Barbara Jean