What A Crappy Day!

Around 2 pm I thought this post would be just a long list of which people drove me nuts today and how they managed to do it. I was so so cranky, actually from the start of the day when I woke up after not enough sleep and with a sore shoulder. No idea what I did to my shoulder in my sleep, but it was bothering me. I got up 30 minutes earlier than usual, because I thought the earlier I get to the stuffy office, the earlier I can leave it again. My brain obviously didn’t function properly due to the lack of sleep. I was so clumsy and forgetful and distracted and shouldn’t have left the house this morning :-) If you follow me on twitter you might have read the shorthand version of parts of my day, here is the full version :-)

I had to hurry to catch the train, so I had to switch of the computer before I had finished reading all the news / blogs / fanfics etc I usually browse or actually read in the morning. When I got on the train I got my book out of my bag and put it on the seat next to me, but went online with my smart phone first to finish reading some stuff. I forgot the book on the seat, when I got off this train to switch to another one. *headdesk* I noticed it after just a few minutes, but of course the train had left the station again already. I went to the information desk and asked the guy behind the counter where this train was and if he could make sure that some official on the train pick up the book and return it to me. He asked me which train I was on and made some calls, but didn’t manage to get a hold of anyone. He told me to come back later in the afternoon.
I hurried to buy some coffee drinks at the store inside the station, before I had to get on the train to my place of work. When I sat down there I finally realized what bothered me during the conversation with the guy behind the desk. He seemed to have misunderstood which train I actually meant and thus I think he called someone on a completely wrong train. I seriously doubt the book turns up at all. I’m not sure if I already signed it with my name (I’m a nerd, who does that, but most of the time I do that after I’ve finished reading them). If it is signed or rather stamped my address is in it, but I doubt the train company or anyone would bother to contact me about it. It’s a simple paperback book after all. I might just order it again from Amazon tonight and if it does show up over the next few days I can send the new one back right away. But I want to keep reading it this week. Damn. Stupid me.

As I didn’t have anything to read on the train, I thought I’d start listening to the 2nd Outlander audiobook after all. Just to discover that I didn’t pack my iPod, which I store in a simple case, which is usually meant for glasses, but is perfect for iPod and headphones. But I obviously didn’t grab that case this morning, but the empty one for my glasses, which looks quite similar to the iPod one. Perfect. Stupid, stupid me. I thought maybe some more caffeine might help me to get through the morning, so I openen one of the cafe latte drinks, just to realize that I grabbed choc latte instead. Who stores chocolate drinks next to the coffee drinks?!?!? Ok, well, probably every store does and they expect their customers to take a look at what they are grabbing. Yeah, stupid, stupid me.

The rest of the day went quite similar. The office was hot and stuffy and work was slow and boring. And I was still so cranky about everything and everyone. My coworker. The woman at the bus stop who started telling me private stuff, which I didn’t care about. I didn’t even know that woman, why should I care if why she left work early today and what her plans for the afternoon were. Ugh! On the metro there were too many noisy and annyoing and rude teenagers. Too many people standing on the left of the esclators. There were too many people everywhere. Period. I ran my errands and tried to not snap and kill someone :-)

When I reached central station and wanted to board my train back home I read “please pay attention to announcentments” on the billboard. And the announcement was: “Due to storm damages train service is shut down in the whole area.” Just what I needed. There had been a storm, but a pretty minor one in my eyes around noon. How could that have shut down the complete system? The weird thing was, that right after the “everything is shut down” announcement there was another one announcing that “train 123 to XYZ is ready for departure at track 10”. WTF?!?!? It turned out this train didn’t leave after all, but still.
I tried to get hold of Bro2 who works in the next town and how might have been able to pick me up at Essen central station, because there was no other way to get home that afternoon. He was in a meeting, so I still didn’t know how to get back home. There was another announcement that passengers with destination Dortmund could get there with the train on platform 1. That would help me a bit at least, so I got to platform 1 and on the train. With a lot of other passengers. We stood in the aisles on the train for quite a while. No air-condition, no open windows. A lot of people. The train didn’t move. After about 15 minutes there was another announcement: “We’ll be leaving shortly, but first we have to sort out a problem with the braking system. Ok. Did I really want to take a train with a problematic braking system? I didn’t have to make up my mind after all, because we shortly afterwards were informed that this train wouldn’t depart in the forseeable future. But there would be rail replacement bus service for my direction. Yay! At least I would get away somehow.

Together with dozens of other passengers I left the station to stand in the blazing sun to wait for the buses. Somebody asked around if anyone would be willing to share a taxi to Bochum central station and as that was where I was headed anyway I was on board right away. While the rest of the passengers waited for the buses, on which they would probably fight claw and nails to get a seat, the five of us hopped on an air-conditioned taxi and payed 10 EUR each, when we got off 30 minutes later. It probably was the best decision of the day, because these 30 minutes were quite entertaining, which doesn’t necessarily have to be the case if you put 5 complete strangers together in a very confined room for 30 minutes. But it was fun in it’s own way. Train service was still shut down when we arrived, but the metro was working, so I could reach Bro2’s offices and get back home by car from there. Yay!

Oh what a day. I needed almost 2 hours, a shower, some food, mindless internet time and some music to unwind and come down from the “this day sucks on so many levels” infuriation. I’m so glad I have the day off tomorrow. I have some errands to run, but I can sleep in at least. And I don’t have to use the train for once!

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One Response to What A Crappy Day!

  1. LJ says:

    I hope today was at least a tiny bit better…

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