Sliding Down the Ladder of Success

My boss has been on jury duty and asked me at the last minute, if I could drive to Sacramento today to take over his client consultations. I LOVE doing client consults so I did a quick rolodex flip in my brain, saw no pressing issues on my agenda, and immediately said, "yes." I expected a long drive to and from, which I decided to view as refreshingly solitary rather than flat, hot and boring. I expected a few client meetings, resulting in some new cases and the usual underappreciation by my boss. When I looked at his schedule I saw that the day would be packed, morning to evening. No problem-o!

I left home 2 1/2 hours early so I could get to our Sacramento office with some extra time to settle in and prepare myself. It was not to be so. The 8 minute drive from my house to the freeway took 39 minutes because the San Mateo Bridge is broken/on fire/blocked by spilled concrete/jammed and basically, entirely shut down. I was starving, I had to pee, I was running late. I called my first client and set our appointment back a bit. By the time I finally got to Sacramento, having diligently followed my MapQuest directions, I realized that I was driving away from downtown and towards fields. Our office is not in the fields. I drove in a huge circle, finally realized I could just ask someone for directions, did so and made a u-turn and drove in a huge circle the other way. I ended up back where I started, when I stopped at a gas station because that's where all the cartographers gather, of course.

Turns out the High Street Bridge is closed. Uh huh. Lovely. So I was given an alternate set of directions, which finally took me downtown, and I was so late by this time that my first (rescheduled) client was sitting there waiting with my second client. I did a round of apologies and explanations, took the first client into the office, and got started. I was a bit harried from traveling and stressed about being late and I kept dropping my pen and papers as I was settling in.

As we discussed his case, I began to fidget with my boss' adjustable chair. The left arm rest was perfectly aligned but the right arm rest was far too low. I looked my client in the eye, continued our conversation and felt along the right side of the chair. Where there is usually a knob to adjust arm rest height was nothing. I leaned to the right a bit and reached lower. Aha! I hit upon a lever, and confidently pulled it up. As I did so, I heard the sound of air releasing and my seat steadily dropped several inches until I was barely chest level with the desk.

All this time I was talking case management strategies with the client, making eye contact and trying to impress him with our firm's professionalism. Sitting at a big boy's desk like a munchkin. And I dared not re-adjust my seat height as it would simply bring more attention to my faux pas. Instead, I pretended I was perfectly comfortable peering up at my notes and the client appeared unfazed. Inside, I was dying to laugh. So much of my life lately is about rearranging myself and trying to adjust to unexpected situations. It was so nice to get to do that in a way that allows me to laugh at myself.