J-Day

Ladies: I’m working on another post which will feature some hunky, shirtless guys. I want to thank my Blogger Help Desk Specialist for his assistance…and for the free beer. I have not had time to apply your advice yet. You’ll know this week if I am simply too hopelessly inept to be helped! Stay tuned…

In the meantime, here’s another little story I thought I’d share:
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About six months after I started at my job, the salesman for a vendor I worked with regularly asked if he could treat several of us to lunch. The group he invited consisted of four women responsible for a recurring project for which his company had been awarded the annual contract that year. Obligatory vendor lunches can be less than exciting, so we kept putting him off. Finally we agreed to a quick trip down the street to a near-by Chinese restaurant. The department manger had a 1:00 meeting, which we used to emphasize that the lunch excursion would have to be brief.

This particular salesman had a weekend job as a limo driver. You guessed it; he picked us up in a white limo. I'd never even LOOKED into a limo before, much less ridden in one. One of the women in our group voiced a sarcastic comment about the lack of champagne, to which J responded by opening the limo door. There was the ice bucket with a bottle of champagne and four glasses. Wow!

We got the digital camera from the office and snapped some pictures. Then off we went. We made the 1.5 mile drive to the Chinese restaurant in no time. J parked, came around the side of the limo and opened the door. There we sat - drinking our champagne.

"We don't want to get out of the car."

We were like kids at the carnival, crying, "We don't wanna go home." J quickly cancelled our reservations at the Chinese restaurant and drove us to the little Italy section of the city. That gave us time to finish our champagne and for the manager to call the office and get someone to fill in for her at that 1:00 meeting.

It was a gorgeous warm day in early spring - one of those FIRST warm days which are so delightful after the long winter months. We went to a well-known, four-star restaurant. We were given a table on the patio outdoors. We had two more bottles of wine and flirted with the good-looking Italian waiters. What a day!

In walked the city’s very charismatic mayor, a frequent customer of this particular establishment. Returning from a trip to the men’s room, our salesman stopped to exchange greetings with the mayor. When J reached the table, I said, "If you know him, invite him over." I don’t think J had a personal relationship with the mayor – he probably didn’t know him at all - but he did go ask him to join us and the mayor obliged. More digital photos of us dining with the mayor! Unbelievable!

We got back in the limo and J asked, "Are you ready to go back to the office?" It was roughly 3:30 in the afternoon.

Naturally, we all said in unison: "NO!"

"Do you want to go to the beach?”

"YES!"

More champagne...and off we went. We turned a few heads, arriving at the little beachside bar in our limousine. We drank hard lemonade and began promising J every possible contract we could think of. We cruised back into the company parking lot around 4:50 pm. The VP of our department was walking to her car. As we passed, the department manager, a woman who has worked for the company for over 15 years, leaned out of the limo's sunroof and greeted the VP in a loud, drunken, sing-songy voice. Could we be any more obvious??

We still note "J Day" on our calendars. It’s May 4. Last week was the four-year anniversary. None of us will likely ever experience such a great work day again.