Pleasant surprise...

Well, today is my first day back to work after having a week off. Besides having two weeks worth of work to do, my coworker is off this week, so I have to deal with the customers and phones as well. In addition to that, it is end of month and end of year - two huge billing crunches all rolled into one.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to coming in today. And don't let the title of the post fool you, the pleasant surprise was not that someone did my job for me while I was off. I don't think I would be able to write this post if that happened. I would have gone into shock and had to be rushed to the hospital had that happened. Just wanted to stop you from thinking that right off the bat.

So, let me back up a bit to say that I have a key to the office. And the alarm code and all that. I rarely have to use it in the mornings because I am rarely the first one here. I have to use it at night a lot because I'm the last to leave a lot. So, when I couldn't find my regular keys this morning after about 10 minutes of searching for them, I just used my spare set for my car and came onto work. I was thinking that my boss, or one of the techs, or even one of the sales guys might be there to open the office. Well, when I arrived at 7:50 am, not one single car was in the lot. In the 9 + years I have worked here, I have been the first to arrive maybe... oh, let's say... 5 times. So, I was hoping that today was not one of those days.

I called my boss's phone and got his voicemail that he would be working at a customer site all day and would not be in. I called our tech manager to see if he was on his way (it wasn't quite 8 and he's not known for getting in early either), but he was at a customer site all day as well. I asked about the other techs who had keys, and they were on customer sites as well.

ACK! So, I pulled out of the parking lot, intending to drive home and frantically search for my keys. I could not for the life of me imagine where I put them. I usually put them in my coat pocket or my purse. I had checked both. As well as counter tops, desks, and a few drawers during my search that morning. So, while driving down the road, I dumped my purse out on my passenger seat. And there they were! Yay! I didn't have to drive all the way home.

So, I finally got in the office and went to my desk. There was a neatly wrapped gift and a gift bag sitting there. No name tag, no "To" or "From" anywhere to be found. I wasn't really expecting anything from anyone, I mean... come on. I work with a bunch of men. I have worked with these same guys for 9 + years (except for one, I'll get to that in a min), and they aren't that thoughtful. Not that my boss isn't thoughtful - he is, really. But he usually gets us gift cards or something, and honestly with the economy the way it is, I was not expecting anything. And this was a nicely wrapped present - and in the gift bag (yeah, I did look in it) was socks, lotion, and girly stuff. NO WAY did any guy who works here get that stuff.

So, I was hesitant to open it - I wasn't really sure it was for me. Yeah, I'm weird like that. The sales guys arrive at 9ish and I don't think anything of it. We have inter-office instant messaging, so I messaged my boss and asked about the gift. He said it was from him, Josh, and Gary. They went together to get gifts for the two women in the office. Here is about how the conversation went:

Me: Wow. No way.

Me: I'm in shock.

Boss: Lol why?

Me: No way did any of you three pick out this gift. The gift has a female written all over it - did Lisa put it together?

Boss: I think it was Josh's sister.

Then Josh comes over and asked if I liked the gifts - and to make sure I got them. I told him I didn't know who they were for or from, so I didn't open the wrapped one yet.

It made my day. I didn't care what the present was (even though I liked it), the pleasant surprise is that three men I work with went together and got gifts for us. It really made me feel a bit better about this place. :)