It's good to be nice

I have been told that I am a nice person. You hear the old adage that nice folks always finish last. There are times when I feel like that's the case, especially when people on my team cannot handle their workload and I end up having to do their work. It is completely unfair.

However, there are moments when folks surprise me. I had several of those on Monday.

To backtrack, an extraordinary event took place. In the past, I could never get any of my co-op students to get proper access to do their timesheets electronically. It would take weeks, simply because those people at work who are responsible to give proper access privileges to new co-op students drop the ball.

Guess what? I managed to get both students to complete their timesheets by Wednesday. Yep, the had access less than three days into their stay with the company.

My manager came up to me, oddly, on Friday the 13th, while I was cutting birthday cake to celebrate special days for a couple of colleagues, including one of my students.

"What did you do to give them access?" he asked me.
"I contacted the Finance department and submitted a request to fix their workcentre code," I replied.
"I was surprised that they had completed their timesheets for this week," he replied.
"You shouldn't be. I finished my timesheet on Monday. You know that they will complete theirs early, too."

It's true. Every student that I have had so far has never been late submitting their timesheet.

On Monday morning, I had a busy start. I had to talk to the contractor, get RAM installed for my laptop, and complete various requests. I managed to talk to both co-op students, to tell them that we'd meet in ten minutes. I then stopped by my manager's desk to ask whether he got RAM installed for his laptop. He did.

"I got you these," he replied, handing over a large bag of shelled, dry-roasted peanuts.
"Awesome! Thanks so much. You made my day," I replied, which was true.
"You're welcome. They come like that, without any labelling, which should not be the case," he replied.
"Well, thanks for the contraband peanuts. I will enjoy them," I replied.

Then, my students surprised me when it came to how quickly they pick up concepts.

The contractor had edited a couple of guides in the past. One had a couple of issues, which were pointed out to her by another writer over a month ago. I tasked her to fix them, which would have been a fairly quick update. She never got around to it, so I decided to offload it to the co-op students.

The update involved fixing a missed letter in a word, adding the chapter number and date, converting the Word document to a PDF, uploading the document to a network drive, and creating a new documentation build.

I showed them what steps they needed to do. One of the writers followed along and actually completed the task as I showed her. I was impressed. I told her so.

The other one managed to update our helpful how-to instructions on fixing timesheet issues. Again, I was impressed.

I have forgotten how wonderful it is to work with bright students who absorb information fast and are eager to work. It's a nice change.

Shopping and surprising each other

A while back, my guy had introduced me to a liquidation place that is closer to where he lives than where I do. It takes me roughly two hours to drive there.

I decided to take Friday off. I drove over there.

My guy and I didn't know that we were both going to show up at this liquidation centre at approximately the same time. He spotted me in the sea of shopping vultures.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Hey!" I exclaimed back.

My guy decided to go back and shave his head. I was so excited to see his new look that I reached up and caressed his head in a packed store. It's a reflex reaction. He smiled in a loving way.

It's nice when we surprise each other. He told me that seeing me today had made his day. It's definitely a mutual feeling.

My guy making a rare appearance at work on Friday

My guy is going through another bout of depression. I have been giving him some breathing room, so he can sort out his feelings. We both hope that his mood will improve.

He was supposed to be at work this week for some training seminars. However, when I communicated with him on Tuesday, he said that he decided to stay at home. I simply told him to let me know when he was in the office.

On Friday, I didn't bring my lunch. Most of my team members could not go out for lunch. My boss was free, so we went to a vegetarian dim sum place. The food was tasty. I felt full for hours.

When we got back from lunch, I saw my guy exiting the building. We were both shocked to see each other. We each were with a colleague, so we kept our chat brief. My guy was smiling. He seemed like his usual self.

At 17:00, I had had enough of work and decided to wrap up the week. I typically stay longer than this departure time, but I often work more hours than I decided to pack up and go.

I was about to turn off my laptop. My guy sent me a message on our company's instant messaging program. I asked my guy if he needed anything, as I was powering off my laptop. He quickly pointed out that he wanted to wish me a good weekend. I knew that he was in a better mood.

I asked him whether he would like to chat. He was fine spending some time talking to me over tea. We met in one of the lunchrooms. We were both sitting close to it.

Of course, a software developer decided to track me down to ask me a question at the end of the workday and workweek. We spent perhaps ten minutes talking.

I then met my guy in the lunchroom. It was nice to see him. He looked good.

He confirmed that his mood was good today. He confessed that it was horrible for him the day before. He shared with me an app on his phone that lets him track his mood. It comes with analytical graphics. It's a useful tool.

I asked him whether I could hold his hand. Normally, we wouldn't do it at work, in a fairly public setting. Without waiting for a reply, I held his hand under the table. He liked that. He felt good. So did I.

We chatted some more about our week. We both cracked jokes like we usually do. It felt normal.

Baby steps. Friday was a positive, optimistic sign.

Happy 2015!

Happy New Year, everyone! It will take me a couple of months to properly use 2015, but I will try my best to adjust.

Things are good on my end. Unfortunately, my over two weeks of vacation will soon come to an end. I have been enjoying sleeping in and doing activities that I haven't had a chance to do in ages, such as calligraphy.

My guy never ceases to surprise me. He is thoughtful. While I was out on New Year's Day eating lunch at a fabulous pho restaurant (yay for it being open), my guy sent me an e-card, wishing me a great year and being all mushy.

We rang in 2015 together. It was nice to kiss him. We rarely are together on New Year's Day.

I also got a spanking to start the year on an excellent, sore note. He had me over his lap and started off playfully slapping my backside with his hand. My pants and panties soon came down, and he was spanking me hard.

It will be a great year for both of us. I am hoping that it extends to you, too.