So tonight was the same as it always is on Mondays (which are my Fridays, I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off).
I get off at midnight. Except on Mondays. I always get stuck staying late on Mondays. Why? Usually because one of my co workers, I’ll call him F, is a lazy bastard and does everything he can to not do anything. So I get stuck taking the calls and fixing the problems even if I end up staying an hour or two late. This happens quite often. Tonight was a little different though
I get a call an hour before I leave. It seems like a simple fix, go into the database and find a transaction and link it to what it is supposed to link to. Normally it’s a five minute fix. I get in the database and extremely weird shit starts happening. Records are blank, which is a bad thing. I mark the blank records for deletion and as soon as I mark them they suddenly appear full of data. WTF? I screw around in the database for a bit and it is displaying extremely odd behavior, data appearing and disappearing all over the place. So I get the person onsite to reboot the server. No joy. The database is hosed. I page our on call developers(I paged three people, only one responded) and was told to run a fixit utility on the db and if that doesn’t work to have the property restore from back up. I go to download the file and its 120 megs. Gonna take forever. So I decide to install the utility on the server and fix it there. Nope, that doesn’t work because I do not have rights to install. Luckily the IT for the property is on site. I get him to install it, run it, and the db is still hosed. So it is time to have them restore from backup and, this is where it gets fun, have them reenter the days transactions. Now the IT person and the night auditor at the property are pissed, which is understandable. I’m pissed because I got off work way late again and I have to get up in the morning.
All the while F is sitting at his computer reading websites not doing a damned thing.
Well, I finally get off and on the way home I stop at a convience store to pick up some milk. On the way in a very drunk homeless guy(VDHG) comes up and pushes a ring in my face muttering something about money. I say ‘No thanks man’ and go in the store. I grab some milk and get to the counter in time to see VDHG trying to sell the ring to the clerk. And then it hits me. I am a lucky motherfucker. I am a recovering alcoholic and that could be me. Homeless and blasted drunk, trying to sell a ring to anyone who will buy it for any price, just to get another drink.
But not today. I’m sober today with a job I like, a nice new car, a great place to live and, most importantly, a family that loves and trusts me again. And my cats(if I don’t meantion them they get angry).
Suddenly getting off work an hour late seems like a really minor thing.
Man, life is good.
Slee
