Grossness

What a day, what a day!  I ended my night at the office last night successfully annoyed by my co-workers.  Two of them were talking about the end of civilization and debating how it was going to happen while another co-worker decided to listen to every ring tone on his phone at the loudest volume possible.  Another co-worker found a website with fart noises and continued to play them through all this thinking he was tricking people into thinking he was farting.  Add the TV to all that noise and this office quickly became unbearable.  I sat in my chair knowing there was no place to escape to unless I froze my bum or looked awkward sitting somewhere random in the building.  I put my hands together, rested my head upon them, and said a little prayer for patience while focusing on my breathing. 

When my shift replacement arrived, he looked rather upset and pulled the boss outside the office to chat for a while.  I remained in place in case it was an issue that would require me to work additional hours.  He returned with a smile on his face, so I hopped a ride back to the MOD with the 1SG who casually mentioned he was conducting a four mile run in the morning.  I decided to join him.  I need to get out more for PT anyway. 

Back in my room, my roommate was already in bed.  I found my desk lamp and quietly started getting ready for bed.  As I whipped out my iPad, I remembered that it was Monday night.  Monday nights are FaceTime nights with Dad.  When we were done chatting, I setup my computer to watch episodes of “Modern Family” and eventually fall asleep.  I heard a hairdryer in the distance as I was dozing off.  When a larger commotion erupted, I decided to get up and check it out.  The breaker was tripped and the lights were out in the bathroom.  There were three females huddled around the breaker box with an instruction manual, so I just went to the bathroom and left them to figure it out.  Yes, I could have fixed it for them, but it was more empowering for them to fix what they broke.  Besides, who wants a smart ass to show up after putting forth all this effort into resolving a problem to simply flip the switch that is facing the wrong direction?  They had this under control and there was no need for me to make them feel stupid. 

My other roommate did not return to the room until 330am.  I am not sure what she was doing, but she woke everyone up when she came in so early in the morning.  She didn’t turn her light out until 4am, so I ended up just getting up and meeting the 1SG for our run.  We were scheduled for 5am anyway.  At 8am, my roommate announced that the bathroom did not have hot water, but that she had the code to the door of another “female only” MOD so we could use their bathroom. 

The lack of hot water was due to our water heater not being reset after the breaker was tripped the night prior.  Our other roommate started blaming the tripped breaker on too much moisture in the restroom.  Trust me, there is never enough moisture in a restroom located in a frozen desert with two exhaust fans and a heater.  Not to mention the fact that all the electrical outlets in the bathroom are setup for outdoor use and have airtight covers on them.  When I pointed this out to her, she started blaming the electricians.  I also pointed out to her, that in my experience, most tripped breakers are due to hairdryers.  She didn’t want to hear it and continued to blame the trip on the electrical work.  I can’t stand to be around ignorant people so I left to shower in the other MOD. 

It is amazing to see how one’s standards of living change when introduced to a different environment for a prolonged period of time.  For example, the other MOD had really nice showers.  If I had just come from my home in Alabama, I would not have appreciated these showers.  It was not the amount of hair on the floor and shower walls, nor the amount of sitting water on the floor, nor the torn shower curtains that caught my eye.  It was the showerheads.  They were big, not rusty looking, and actually supplied water pressure. 

I returned to the room to discuss this with my roommate who agreed their showers were better than ours.  We are looking into fixing this situation by requesting new showerheads in our showers.  It is about time too because ours are gross looking.  While we were discussing shower conditions our other roommate left and my roommate took the opportunity to change the topic to something a bit more serious. 

“Did you hear what time the Ma’am came in last night?” 

“Of course I did, she came in at 330 in the morning and didn’t turn her light off until 4!”

“Girl, what the hell is she doing out so late?”

“You tell me.”

“I asked her, she said she went to Bible study.”

“Until 330 in the morning?”

“You know she slept in her clothing, right?”

“What?”

“Yea, she just hopped out of bed fully dressed, went to the bathroom and now she is leaving for work.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

Note to self: Stay away from your other roommate today.