The Meeting

The meeting today with my boss at 10am could not have gone more different than I imagined. The person sitting across the desk from me was the complete opposite of the person who sat berating me a mere 4 days before. She was pleasant, she was helpful, she was encouraging. . .who was this strange creature?

I don’t know if she reviewed her behavior over the weekend and saw the error of her ways, if she figured she had better straighten up if she had any hope of keeping me through the budget season, if she got laid over the weekend – who KNOWS what caused this change in mood! But I’ll take it.

Over the course of the day, I started to feel like she – my boss – was kissing my ass a little. She joked with me, she smiled, she confided in me, she checked to be sure I didn’t need anything before she left for the day and while it was nice, after the drama from last week, it felt a little. . .phony. The genie has been let out of the bottle, I have seen her with her mask off and she can’t just put it back on and expect everything to go back to the way it was. I already have the fear – the fear that she could turn on me at any moment, for reasons I don’t even begin to understand.

I appreciated her efforts today – she actually apologized, which was nice and certainly unexpected. I will not look look a gift horse in the mouth – I will milk every ounce of information and assistance from her I can get until things change. I was completely prepared for our meeting today – she asked for 3 different things/pieces of information and I was able to hand them right to her. She was surprised – I could tell but I want her to understand that once I know the expectations, I am a hard worker and won’t let her down. So – there is no need to speak to people in the way she did to get results. I also told her how much I appreciated her sitting with me the day my old boss turned in her notice – I was crying and she sat and held my hand, telling me everything would be OK, we would all work together to get everything done, she didn’t expect me to be my boss once she left. . . THAT gets my respect and my loyalty, not fear.

She didn’t say much about the other job I applied for – just that she had talked to the hiring manager that morning and they were still deciding who to interview and when. I know for a fact that manager has an interview for the position scheduled for tomorrow – I saw it on her calendar so the interviews are already taking place. I will give this woman until Wednesday to get a hold of me – if I hear nothing, I will shoot her a quick E-mail to let her know I will be out all next week on vacation, just in case she wants to catch me before I leave.

End results? I am not quite as nervous about the upcoming budget as I was last week. It is nice to know that at least for now, I have my new boss’s support and interest in helping me learn. And I am going to take full advantage of that for as long as I can.

On a MUCH happier note, I am now officially 5 days away from vacation!!! Our flight leaves Saturday at 6pm for St Pete, Florida and we don’t come back until the 1st. I SO cannot wait!

I have tried very hard not to make too many plans – this vacation is going to be about relaxing, being completely lazy, enjoying the gorgeous weather on the beach . . .oh, and visiting my family, of course! *wink*

We are splitting up the week to be far to our respective families – we are spending Sunday – Tuesday with my family, we have Wednesday to spend together, by ourselves and then Thursday and Friday with his brother. I know – it seems silly to have to split up the week like that but it makes things so much easier on us both in the long run.

I just got an E-mail from my brother today and he and his girlfriend have just broken up again for like the 20th time since they started dating over 5 years ago. I don’t know enough about their relationship, as of late, to know if this one will actually stick but based on experience, I am not holding my breath. What I do know is that she will be in the Keys visiting her aunt and uncle for most of our visit so I will have my brother all to myself! For once!

He actually has moved out of their beach house and is staying with a friend so they both can “have some space” but since she will be out of town, we all will be able to hang out there. I still can’t believe my brother lives right across the street from the Gulf of Mexico! He wants to grill out at his place one night for dinner – sounds heavenly to me. Grilled fish and shrimp, beers and one of the best views for a sunset in the entire world.

We are taking my parents out to dinner next Tuesday night for their 40th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe my parents have been married that long! We found this cute little French place on a side street off Gulf Drive that we have been dying to try for the past couple of years – it definitely is not the type of place I would imagine my parents liking . . .their idea of a good dinner is a night out at Subway! But come on – 40 years??? That deserves some kind of celebration! I told my mom flat out if it wasn’t their cup of tea, we could go anywhere they wanted but she wants to give it a try so Tuesday at 6:30pm, we will be sampling some authetic French cuisine, I hope.

I am bringing 2 new books with me – my usual vacation tradition is to buy the latest copy of In Style magazine and read it on the plane ride down but I decided to forgo it this time. The only thing it really does is make me want to spend money to buy the hundreds and hundreds of gorgeous clothes, jewelry, shoes and purses in their ads and articles. No thanks – I am NOT focusing on buying anything right now – I am happy and content without all that materialistic crap. Just being in Florida with the sand, surf and slower pace will be good enough for me.

*sigh* 5 more days. . .bring it on!