The Backroads Polar Express is chugging right along toward the Backroads Pole, bearing writing contest entries and not much else. That could be remedied on Monday, though. Because I am breaking tradition and making a list, checking it twice, shopping from work, to get the best price.
I was not planning on a work-day shopping spree. But that naughty little voice kept insisting. It sounded very much like Genius. Who says I can get a really good deal on a laser printer/scanner/copier on CyberMonday. I have never shopped before from work. Let the record show that I will only be using my planning time, as I have planned ahead through Christmas break, and all of my grades are caught up and entered in the grading system. I would use my lunch time, or the forty-five minutes I have before the first bell, but I am otherwise occupied on Monday, what with parking lot duty before and after school, and a week of lunch duty to put the kibosh on that scenario. As further justification, I point to Exhibit A, a blown-up photo on an easel, showing Val at her desk, hard at work grading papers and prepping for the next lesson, with the clock in the background showing 4:45. P.M. or A.M. Take your choice. A more tech-savvy Val might also have shown a desktop calendar with its pages being shuffled to show that such off-the-clock burning of the afternoon oil has taken place at least four days per week from August 15 through November 22.
I think that eighty-four hours of work on my own time can be exchanged for fifty minutes of shopping on company time. I'm even willing to pay a pro-rated equipment/internet usage fee for the convenience. Besides, once I make my purchase, I'm done. I doubt it will even take the whole fifty minutes. Then I can traipse around breaking the copy machine and chewing the fat with other faculty on their plan time.
Seriously. It's not like I'm watching internet pr0n, Skyping my family overseas, driving home to put a load of laundry in the dryer, sending inappropriate political emails, or taking a nap. And I'm actually saving the school money by not taking one of my contract-given personal days to stay home and shop while a substitute molds the minds of the citizens of tomorrow. At a cost of seventy dollars per day.
And the whole scenario might not even be necessary, if I can find what I need at 5:30 a.m. The problem there is that the Backroads information superhighway is...well...like an information backroadshighway. Slower than molasses in January. And there's that pesky duty responsibility hanging over my head, preventing me from arriving a few minutes later. I can't pull an all-nighter because I have to be fresh for a day of performing three duties.
In any case, I won't be browsing. I have a list. I'm a woman on a mission.
3 comments:
May you find the laser of your dreams. Congrats on getting all your submissions out there.
I like how you lumped driving home to put in a load of laundry with internet porn. Yep, same thing here, too.
Linda,
I was lucky to find the laser of my daydreams, at least. And I found it this morning before leaving the house. Problem was, Genius was still asleep. So I waited until we got home to have him check it out. A good deal, but only black-and-white. I can use my old ink jet for color if need be. AND I SAVED $100!
My submissions have left the nest, trailing apron strings in their wakes. It's hard to let go.
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Tammy,
As I see it, breaking a rule is still breaking a rule. And I didn't have to resort to such breakage today. But I'm stowing away the good karma until I need it.
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