Daisy, those are awesome stories.

I went to pick up my shoe from the shoe repair place and ended up chatting with the owner and his best friend for about an hour. SO FUN. I love my neighborhood.

Cindy, as the old saying has it, "give a man a fish and you feed him today; teach a man to fish and you get him out of the house for an entire weekend".

I'm writing that down. He's been working from home a lot lately, and the kids are getting on his nerves, but it's stuff I learned to turn a deaf ear to long ago (bickering amongst themselves, coming in and out a dozen times when they're outside playing). The kids getting on his nerves is getting on my nerves.

He just ran to the store. I told him to take his time. I don't have much of a poker face, so I expect he knew it wasn't his sanity I was trying to save.

Dude. If this woman does not stop walking back and forth into my office muttering to herself, I AM GOING TO FLIP OUT LIKE A MAMMAL!

Yipes. Sorry, DJ, I didn't realize I was wandering into your office. At least I'm singing!

(Okay, so I'm singing Metallica, but still. There's entertainment to be had here.)

(Yes, singing keeps me calm.)

Golf's good too.

I AM GOING TO FLIP OUT LIKE A MAMMAL!

In what ways do mammals flip out differently than, say, reptiles? Are amphibians so naturally phlegmatic that they're not reknowned for flipping out? Are avians just too flightly to even be used as a standard of measure?

These, and other thoughts, are brought to you by Mid-Afternoon Friday.

Yipes. Sorry, DJ, I didn't realize I was wandering into your office. At least I'm singing!

See, if it were you, it wouldn't bother me because I wouldn't have to click off b.org every five minutes.

Aimee is hereby crowned Queen of Beginning Algebra! She hath made the integers and prime factors and mixed numbers and decimals her bitches and will henceforth banish them to the "learned it, don't need it til the exam" corner.

Yay Aimee!

(Though the math teacher in me wants to say, "But you learned it! Now you can have fun with it! Numbers do all sorts of neat things! Nobody puts prime factors in a corner!")

Gah. Also? If I put you on hold 8 times during the time you are talking to me? It probably means my phones are ringing off the hook and you should maybe get to the point. Also, also? I AM NOT MAPQUEST!

I really need to get out of here.

One last bitch and then I promise to quit (hopefully because I'll be gone). Now there is a woman who came in 30 min before close, doesn't want to leave her paperwork, insists on talking to coworker who is on the phone, probably for a while. Now she says she'll wait and is standing outside my doorway acting 5. Flipping pages pissily and sighing and stamping around.

Grow up and get out of my doorway!

ETA: Now she just made a feel my pain phone call. "Hey can you pick up the food? I'm waiting on this lady and I know the kids are hungry."

Now she just made a feel my pain phone call. "Hey can you pick up the food? I'm waiting on this lady and I know the kids are hungry."

"Hey, lady...whyn't you stop acting like a kid and go FEED your kids? I swear, I don't know who to call Child Protective Services to pick up: them or you."