Today is draggggggging. I have been rotating from one pile of papers to another so I don't get too bored, but yeeeesh.

Filing, scanning, bill paying, note transcribing....on other days I might feel accomplished for getting rid of so many papers from my desktop, but today, just booooored.

I have filled a grocery bag with paper for recycling, so not a small amount of stuff gone through.

Still quite a bit on my desk. Yawn.

I grew up with guessers, and I'm more of a guesser with people I don't know well, but I'm an asker with friends/family and co-workers.

There was, and may still be, a school of thought in Business Psychology that you get better responses and less resentment from subordinates if you phrase your directives to sound like requests instead of orders. So, instead of "I need you to do x by y" one should say things like "Can you HELP ME do x by y" and that Office Space classic, "if you could do x by y, that'd be great". Bosses shouldn't sound like bosses, they should sound like collaborators! It's better for morale!

My sister adheres to this school of thought. Everything she asks for is "help me do this" and then "thanks for helping me!" I hate it. It's manipulative and disingenuous. (I think it's just become a mental habit by now. She once thanked me for helping her rake leaves...in MY yard.) When I say, I didn't HELP you, we did it together, she blinks at me and laughs like she doesn't understand the damn difference. I'm not your sidekick!

My issues, let me share them.

I've hit the "clear liquids only" part of my prep for tomorrow's colonoscopy. I will be so glad 24 hours from now when this is all over, hopefully with me having another few years' peace of mind that, family history notwithstanding, my colon is not currently trying to kill me.

My lucky I-don't-have-cancer shirt is ready (I've worn it to all my mammogram and colonoscopy appointments to date), and I've been promised Girl Scout cookies when this is all over--they arrive late in Seattle, and tomorrow is the first day they'll be selling at the local grocery stores.

24 hours to Thin Mints and Samoas...

One of my peeves (I have many) is the people who kind of hint around that they want you to do something, but don't come out and say "would you/could you do x" or "please do x" or even "do x". I'm really not good at these subtleties - I do need to have a straightforward request or even command.

If you're my boss, tell me to do something and tell me by when.

If you are not my boss, ask me what you want and if I can do it or help you do it I will. If it is a work situation and you ask me "do you want .....?" Realize I will almost always say no. I don't want to do much that is work related. That could change in a different job.

Mac is pretty awful about asking for what he wants and I hate it. I cannot read minds. I hated this about other girls when I was a teenager, but realize now I did the exact same thing with regard to boys when I was a teenager. I would hem and haw and not be direct around them.

I do think it is situational though.

There have been times in my life when faced with people who would not make direct requests, that I would maintain behavior or activities they disliked simply because they refused to ask me to stop. Fair warning.

I will - when I'm feeling especially passive-aggressive - act obtuse until someone either directly tells me to do something or gives up.

Timelies all!

There was a 2-hour delay at work today(which means you can arrive up to 2 hours later than usual, and use leave for it.) I got to work at my usual time, and left an hour early(yeah, I know that's not how it works, but none of the higher-ups were in anyhow.)

Omg--Brenda and her sister left but my friend Farrah's flight was delayed four hours. Which means she misses her connection...so the rebooked her on a new connection but still expected her to take the first flight...thereby spending the night in OHare. She's been on the phone for almost 3 hours now on hold. We tried tweeting and they said to DM them and then told her it would want change fee!!

No mention of the llama chase the whole afternoon? I had to learn about it on Twitter.

I had to explain to my kids that grown-ups sometimes have so little to do at work that they can watch live llama chases and talk about them on the internet. (I also found out about it after it was over, because work.)