A Day of Minor Inconveniences

No working day, tomorrow. The wife is out of town to visit her mom, no bills due, no errands pending, nothing big, at least…

Finally, after like what, months!? I get to have a weekend where being selfish won’t hurt,

Hopefully, today doesn’t suck. Let it not be ruined by more than a few minor inconveniences…

******

Okay, will have to get ready and show up at office today, sigh…

I mean I could take a day off, it seems like a great day to take one off, I mean.

Sadly, I’ve exhausted all my personal day-off allowances for this quarter. Darn it! Shouldn’t have gone on that road trip with the boys. We had to stay at an old, badly-maintained motel with even more badly-served meals that gave all of us the worst case of food poisoning we’ve had in years!

Never again will I trust your reviews and testimonials, airbnb, never again…

I can’t take a sick leave either, unfortunately… no food poisoning today for me to tell my boss that the team will have to endure the day without me so that I get to lay in bed all day and waste it away grinding Dark Souls…

On second thought, who would torture themselves and be masochistic enough to endure that on their day off?

Maybe Age of Empires II, then, that new DLC is dope, been dormant on my library, months after I’d purchased it. By now, they would have released another DLC for all I know,

Anyway, I can enjoy Aoe with the squad this weekend,

Oh well…my attendance today is nothing but a minor inconvenience for the weekend that is expecting me. Man, I can’t wait!

******

Ah great! The Geyser’s busted…way to start off the day. Guess, I’ll have to schedule a service, been nearly a year since someone inspected that thing. Why do I even need hot water in July anyway? It’s still hot outside.

Some of my rituals, man, old habits do die hard…

Meh… It’s just a minor inconvenience,

******

Blasts! The oven’s in need of service too, now!?

Why the heck is the darn thing not heating up, then? Thought I could finish yesterday’s pasta for breakfast, especially after she gave me the green signal and told me that I’ll be doing her a favor by finishing that off.

Huh…maybe she didn’t like my pasta? Was it the sauce? Oh well…

Looks like the power just went off. Talk about timing! Exactly when I wanted to use it….

I can’t have this tonight, I am saving my appetite for Fried Chicken as dinner. Been craving them juicy and tender chicken wings for weeks now, Oh man…that recent ad didn’t help things at all. Too bad she wasn’t interested, else could have bought it sooner and done away with my desires. It got to the point I had trouble focusing yesterday, boss did give me a look that made it clear I seemed distracted enough for her to pay attention. Wonder how I’m gonna survive today…

Oh well, guess I'll have to skip breakfast and endure till lunchtime,

Another minor inconvenience,

******

Bored of driving, let me savor today’s weather by availing the public transit, instead. Can get to walk and admire the scenery that benefits itself from this weather, as well as the content smile people will be having.

Ya, seeing them will definitely lift my spirits…

Hmm, let’s take the metro, not in the mood to use the bus. That thing will pass through the industrial corridor, I don’t want to ingest all those black, thick fumes and the dust throughout that entire stretch, nuh-uh!

Metro will be quick and pleasant. Ah, how I am reminded of my school days! When it was newly opened, getting to ride it the first time was something else. Who knows….I might clock out early today and use it again to explore the city. Haven’t experienced the newer corridors and stations.

Why did I even buy a car, again? She doesn’t drive much, either. Might as well sell that bucket and do the environment, and myself, of course, a favor.

Some minor inconveniences at the start of the day shouldn’t faze me, the bulk of the day is still awaiting me and I'm getting a feeling that it will be smooth sailing from here on out…

******

What happened? Why is the train not moving?

“Dear passengers, we are facing some technical difficulties at the moment. Please bear with us, as we ensure it gets resolved as soon as possible. We are terribly sorry for this minor inconvenience.”

Seems like a technical glitch, judging by the murmurs around me, it has been months since something like this had happened.

The air conditioning has stopped working. That’s just great…seems like everyone’s annoyed and restless too. How long is it gonna take?

Brrr….the look the grandma seated opposite’s giving me. Like she wants to take all the frustration on me, even if it means I get killed and she goes to jail at such a ripe age! And the dude sitting beside me, like he wishes he wasn’t here, likely sensing the same uneasiness that I am feeling except he’s feeling that way due to me. And the woman with her baby beside him, in turn. And in turn, the baby’s crying is making all of us present annoyed and uncomfortable…

Nothing worth admiring outside the windows, just a dark, grimy underground tunnel…no greenery, no large, impressive monuments and structures, no cityscape or skies worth paying attention towards….Nothing. At least those tall chimneys and fumes would have been somewhat worth looking at, had I taken the bus...

Just another minor inconvenience. I bet it’s gonna get resolved soon. For all I know, I might even reach the office today earlier by say, half an hour due to having used the metro…

******

An hour and 45 minutes later than usual, somehow, finally…I reached the nearest station to my workplace, another 15 or so minute walk from here…

Darn it... what now!?

“Road closed for maintenance. Use the parallel road adjacent to reach the opposite lane. Please bear with us with this minor inconvenience"

Maintenance? Seemed in pretty good condition like, yesterday…

I swear, sometimes maintenance work happens just for the sake of it! Just so that the authorities can claim that they put the taxpayer’s money to worth, even if nothing happens or is required.

Hope the boss lady doesn’t yell at me for clocking in late. I mean why would she? There’s not much work left to be done in the project aside from some minor revisions.

Besides, it’ll just be a minor inconvenience for her and the team. Right?

******

Did she REALLY have to chew me out in front of everyone? Was this sorely all my fault, I mean? Guess me showing up late made her snap out and lash out at me, for all the complaints the team was getting,

Apparently, the project suffered from one minor inconvenience after another, and it ended up affecting the entirety of it. Human oversight. Which is why we all spent as late as 10 yesterday night if it meant avoiding this. Guess it wasn’t enough…

Fantastic…not only must we redo the entire segment all over again, but also, we are doing overtime. AGAIN. Till 10, maybe even longer.

What’s with today and all the minor inconveniences, so far? It can’t get any more absurd than this…

******

It’s nearly 10:30. Most of the office is empty. Boss said she had some very important event to attend so bailed out at 6:30, though I wonder if she’s bluffing. The rest of the team either had some commitments or made prior plans for the weekend that they couldn’t cancel. They all got an earful, but hey…at least they were good to leave,

Not me, however. Seems like I’ve been made the scapegoat for this “series of minor inconveniences”. Oh well, for the greater collective good. Teamwork. Co-operation. Yadda, yadda…I even had to sacrifice lunch, since the screw-up is that bad.

My dinner plan also got ruined. Having dinner near midnight isn’t healthy, but hey…it’s not like I’ll die of complications just for having it once in a blue moon. But, no outlet will be doing late-night delivery, not after the recent policy that’s been put in for a while in most places. Darn, my stomach's growling...

Man, at this rate, I just want to go home and crash in my bed.

A series of minor inconveniences, maybe so that I can be grateful and enjoy the weekend ahead of me, maybe life’s way of bracing me to savor the bliss ahead more after the peril I had scaled behind me…

******

Finally, I managed to clock out, what a horrible day!

Just got a memo that my bonus got canceled. Not just mine, or my team’s. The entire office, it turns out. Something downsizing and merger, blah blah. Rubbish, the top execs will still get their bonus assured, if not be rewarded more…

A "minor inconvenience" for this quarter that all of us must be patient with…

******

Almost forgot…metro won’t be in operation at this time of the night. Buses will be very skeletal and rare. Not that I want to use the metro again, not after today’s incident. Don’t want to be reminded of the day that I had,

Instead, let me hire a cab. Return home comfortably in a premium sedan, well air-conditioned with some good music to kill the time.

As long as I get to hit the bed and wake up without a care tomorrow late in the afternoon.

It’s more pricey than public transit, but hey, this one minor inconvenience, I am willing to tolerate,

******

How was I to know today I would be staying late to the point I should have taken the car to office?

Got pulled over by the cops, didn't put on my seat belt. Because the darn thing was jammed and I couldn't reach it till the buckle. So did the driver, both of us were penalized. Lost interest to listen to some beats, hence...

The fare… got charged twice the rate than normal. Because late night. It was one thing that the app specified that fares will be double, but this idiot also charged me extra than what was estimated. Likely for that episode with the cops.

God, what IS it with today? Is it some sort of a ‘Glitch Day’ or something? The Geyser, the train, my project, the bonus slashes, the cops, and now, this!

CURSES!!! Minor inconveniences after minor inconveniences…is it even minor if it’s been happening throughout the day!?

******

What’s this? A notification from the boss lady….

You gotta be kidding me…YOU. GOTTA. BE. FREAKIN’. KIDDING. ME!!!

I HAVE TO SHOW UP TOMORROW!? BECAUSE ‘MUH DEADLINE FOR THE PROJECT’?

I swear… that lady, ugggh!!!

Why am I getting the feeling that she doing all this just out of sheer spite and pettiness?

God, whatever….I am tired. I just need some shut-eyes. Even if it’s for like, 5 hours max. Will heat up that leftover pasta.

What I need for today’s experience with all those minor inconveniences.

******

The power still hasn’t been restored? What the hell!?

I swear, I paid the bill two or so days back, what is going on!?

“Transaction error”. Seems like money got debited that day, I did receive that SMS acknowledgment from the bank, I remember that clearly, but it didn't reach the other side, turns out. Money got "stuck".... should seek support and report this,

Fine, I’ll pay the darn bill now again and get this over with...

“Unable to make any transactions due to technical difficulties”

STUIPD, STINKIN’, ROTTEN, SON-OF-A, NO-GOOD, WORTHLESS, USESLESS, GODDAMNED, BUG INFESTED, BEWITCHED, TROGLODYTE, DEVIL’S SPAWN EXCUSE OF AN APP!!!

ANOTHER "MINOR" INCONVENIENCE FOR THE DAY!!!

******

The pasta got spoilt too, due to the refrigerator naturally not working, no thanks to this power cut.

It's too dark...need to use my phone's flashlight,

Oh dear….her favorite mug. Broken to pieces. Accidentally flung my hand over it, in the middle of all this,

She’s NOT going to like this, it was her dad’s gift….

Well, fortunately…I can replace it with a decoy. How’s she going to find that out, I mean? It’s just a damn, dime-a-dozen mug, after all….she’ll only return back on Monday. I got time…

Another minor inconvenience….after a series of many, but yeah…minor nonetheless, haha…

******

I DON’T HAVE TIME!!!

What am I going to do!?

Just saw the message that she sent a few hours ago telling me she’ll be heading back here tomorrow morning...

I don’t want to be on the wrong side of her wrath…how is she gonna believe me if I tell her I had a day full of minor inconveniences? Let’s just pray she understands it was an honest mistake from my side,

Man, what IS today!? It’s like someone cursed me to endure a series of minor inconveniences for the entire day…

I’d rather have one, big, inconvenience than endure minor ones, constantly remaining paranoid and cautious to be expecting one of them!

******

I need to get some sleep, brace myself for tomorrow…

I’d rather die and not wake up, frankly.

Another message….at this time of the hour,

WHAT!?

My….my bank….my balance…..my ban-….BANK BALANCE!!!

It must be that GODDAMN CAB DRIVER!!!

I swear, he looked shady!! Should have been cautious when he kept insisting to me he didn’t want hard cash. He had his card reader bugged!

This weekend’s gonna suck, something tells me it’ll be full of minor inconveniences awaiting me…