This morning I got up and took a shower and had a cup of coffee and read my horoscope and it said:
It is time to sit down with yourself and have a serious talk. Set some limits for yourself and be honest about where you should go about drawing the line. Your health, your state of mind, and your relationships with others all depend on your taking the initiative to know when to say no in certain situations.
What that says to me is don’t go to work today. So I called in and said “I’m not coming in today, I’ll be in tomorrow”. No bullshit excuses about my car trouble or family matters or sore left hamstring. Just the truth. I’m not going to work.
It’s not that I’m hungover, I am but I have 20 plus years of experience working with hangovers. It’s not that I’m sick, I am but I’ve gone to work countless times with illnesses that would put a normal man in the hospital. It’s not that it’s raining, it is but I live in Seattle and it rains here. What it is, is all in my mind, and like Dan says if you’re a threat to yourself or others it’s time to pull yourself off the street and stay indoors. A rare combination of factors aligned today and there was no way I could ride a bike and deliver very important legal documents.
When you work with a crew of only three bike messengers and one of them calls in sick it makes a difference. Working for commission and being understaffed translates into more money. Fewer people = bigger slices of pie. Working hourly and being understaffed, translates into taking it in the ass.
I felt bad for my co-workers for about 4 seconds then I got over it. Mostly because I have never called in sick. Never. And let me remind you that I’m a bike messenger, an under paid manual laborer. And I have never been late to work and never called in…until today. I don’t mean to dwell of this subject but this is rare in the messenger world. I’m not joking. NEVER.
I’m not going to say I’m sorry, because I’m not. What goes around comes around. I’ve been there. I’ve been there for years. And now finally, today I’m here.
gold stars for all the robot boys
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