This short story was inspired by my blog post from yesterday about paying attention to details. Although self care was specified in that piece, today's morning musing was an attempt at unravelling the many, many details spilling around us. Bills in the mail, memos at work, and those previously mentioned mundane tasks in our homes, not to mention extra curricular schedules and spontaneity. The great depth of it all almost overwhelmed me. Cora, in the following story stepped up and saved my sanity. Enjoy!
Details! Schmietails!
“Details! Schmietails! Do you not see how much is piled on my desk. Practically falling on the floor. And then there’s all my emails. And look at the clock. It’s almost quitting time. I’ll never get it all done. And you want me to pay attention to details differently than I already am?!”
Cora, her naturally curly blonde hair was wound more tightly than usual. Telephones had been ringing all day. The fax machine seemed particularly loud while it hummed and spat out more paper work for her to do. Harried people, with nothing better to do than complain, had been coming and going wanting her to fix their problems. As though it was her fault and not now but right now. Here was her boss, standing ramrod straight with his little clipboard, his tie just so and a knife edge pleat to his pants, telling her about time management and how she could be doing things better and faster. She took a deep breath and pushed back her chair, almost knocking Mr. Detail in the knees. Standing up to her full 4’9”, hands on her hips and her back ramrod straight she looked him square in the buttons on his shirt.
“Just a minute” Cora paused, turned and reached for the foot stool under her desk. She placed it in front of her boss, stood up on it and returned to her position. Now she could look him squarely in the eye. Cora continued in a voice just on this side the calm and controlled manner she presented.
“Mr. Derringer, you’re a good man. An intelligent man. If you look at the clock, you’ll see that the office will be closed in one hour. That’s five o’clock. If you look at my desk, you’ll see that I have more than one hours work. Now, I appreciate your information however it is eating into the time I have managed to carve out to clear at least some of it up. I will be completing what I am able to reasonably do before five. I know how you hate to pay overtime, so all the rest will be stacked in order so that I can get it all completed tomorrow. I do hope there is more staff here tomorrow to answer….the……phones. Telephones do not care about time management. Thank you for listening to me. Please take your clipboard and return to your office.”
With that Cora stepped down off of her stool, put it away under her desk, sat down in her chair and returned to work. Mr. Derringer just stood still his mouth open as though he were about to speak.
“And close your mouth before you go.”
Cora smiled as she heard her boss step away from her desk, his footsteps retreating quietly to his office. Her tap-tapping on her key board and ruffling of invoices, bills, and correspondence covered his tracks. All the details in the world would not make her work faster. But she would leave on time so she could get to her son’s basketball game by six p.m. Supper would be ready for her when she arrived home, a lovely stew bubbling in the crock pot. Cora settled in to finish her work day.
“The details of life have a tendency to interfere with the actual living of life.”
~ Richard Diaz
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