Reflections on 2009... Part One

It is only a few hours until 2009 is officially over.  Thus I have taken some time to really reflect on my life.  With all its ups and downs... One thing remains constant.  I AM A JERK!  This is going to be a long post, so I'm splitting it into two.

Part One.... This happened a little while ago but the shame is still pretty fresh. 

A dear friend of mine asked me to put together a small dinner for his birthday.  Which I gladly accepted.  So the night before I stayed up, dutifully dipping long stemmed strawberries in chocolate.  After which I wrapped each one in it's own cute little wrapper as a small party favor to each dinner guest. 

I brought the coveted tray of delights to my office knowing that I would have to bring them straight to the party afterwards.  I put them in the work refrigerator with a note that said "DO NOT TOUCH"

Right before the end of the work day, I went to retrieve the berries only to see that 3 were missing.  I was distraught to say the least.  I had worked so hard on each one, and now 3 people would not be able to have their own party favor thus ruining my plans for the party. 

I promptly tell my boss about the theft and she in an act of kindness and wrath of which I'd never seen, sent out a SCATHING email to the ENTIRE company.  [sidenote, we had a long history of people stealing food from the office refrigerator, but this set my poor boss over the top.]  This email, in the most professional manner I'd ever seen, ripped the whole company a new one and promised that if the culprit came forward they would be spared their lives.  (but perhaps nothing less)

The President of the company gave me $20 of his own dollars to offset the costs of the missing berries (which I was begrudingly forced to take) while everyone else came by and gave thier comments/theories on who they thought took the berries. 

I left the office defeated, my party plans laid in ruins but I still had to pull myself together and make it work. 

While driving to the restuarant to set up for the party.  My roommate calls me to wish me luck on everything and says, "Oh by the way, I saw you left 3 of your strawberries here in the fridge.  Don't worry, I didn't eat them so they'll be here when you get home."

I almost pulled my car into oncoming traffic. 

I never told anyone at the office about the mixup.  I just continued to further destroy the company morale by letting them believe they had thieves among them.  I'm sure people at that office still speak of the story as though it was something of folk lore or an old wives tale.  They pass down the story in new hire orientation to warn about the dangers of bringing your lunch to work and the poor girl who paid dearly for her mistake.    

-LB