Wednesday, December 31, 2008

My Badge, My Baby

Wanna know what didn't help my foul mood this morning? Finding out at a few minutes before 6am that my badge no longer granted me access to my building at work. Shivering in the predawn cold, I pressed the button to call security and they announced they would send someone over.

I braced myself for a long wait in the cold, but just then saw a lady coming in from the garage. With a badge! So she let herself in, and I followed her, showing her that mine didn't work. Being the honest Jane that I am, I waited in the lobby until I saw the security-mobile pull up outside the building, then went out to meet him. He let me in again and informed me that my badge had expired.

Expired? Why? Had I been fired? I still had to open the gym in a few minutes. I'm a contractor, but I'm not personally on contract, so there's no reason as to why my badge should have expired. I didn't really care too much, I just asked him to fix it and let me be on my way. But instead, he took my badge and told me he has to keep it.

I have a strange attachment to certain things. When I was in high school, I wore an old rope around my wrist, and a rusty ring on my finger- both of which held a tag on to the case of an instrument I had unloaded at work in the music store. The instrument had no sentimental value to me, but for some reason, the rope and ring that held the tag on it did. I wore both for several years. Didn't even take them off to shower.

OK so I'm weird like that. But I had become strangely attached to my badge. It has a weird bend in it, and the brand sticker from an apple (the fruit, not the computer) permanently attached to it.

So I couldn't believe he was taking my badge away. And telling me that i had to contact my supervisor so that I could get a new one. A new one? But I like MINE. I gave him attitude but it didn't work so I begrudgingly followed him down to the fitness center and let him let me in.

Of course, the first thing I did when I got in was send a desperate email to my buddy in security (remember 143?) and he hooked me up and told me I could pick up my baby in the security office.

So I did, and that ended that.

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