Because we took most of last week off, this was a wonderfully crazy busy week of catching up with email, making call backs, invoicing a wonderful number of orders and shipping them all out. We love it when we are this busy because it’s just plain fun. As we race around from task to task, we laugh and joke and the place takes on a sort of party atmosphere. We all switch jobs every few hours. Sometimes that leads to confusion, but never to boredom! I particularly like the moment when I have just finished packing an order. The box is taped, the UPS label in place, and I get to pick out a picture to put on the outside shipping box. That is one of the nice things about having every one of us do all the different jobs. My years of experience with Flower Essences are needed for answering questions on email, but the five year old in me can glory in cutting and pasting a pretty picture onto a box!
As we dashed around the office early Wednesday morning, it occurred to us that we never mention what SOME in the office would describe as our most important job, a job requiring seriously crisp DOORPERSON SKILLS. Yes, this job would be opening the outside door to let in and let out three cats and two dogs all day long.
So, on a whim we decided to keep a log of our doorperson activity. Here it is, our Wednesday log, in all its glory.
Who is who? Bella, Gus, and Mishka are the cats. All part siamese, Bella is all black while Gus and Mishka resemble gently toasted marshmallows. Riley and MayMay are the dogs, goldens and proud of it. I leave it up to you to decide if they have a good life or not.
The doorpersons on Wednesday? Patricia, Jane, Debs and me. Lynn, perhaps the most attentive doorperson on the planet was off resting from her rigorous doorperson shift on Tuesday.
9:02 am Let Bella in
9:03 am Let MayMay in
9:09 am Let Gus out
9:11 am Let Mishka out
9:38 am Let Mishka in
9:46 am Let Mishka out
10:40 am Let Gus in
10:45 am Let Gus out
11:02 am Let Gus in
11:02 am Let Mishka in
11:14 am Let Mishka out
11:16 am Let Bella out
11:20 am Let Riley out
11:30 am Let Bella in
11:32 am Let Riley in
11:47 am Let Riley, MayMay, and Gus out
11:48 am Let MayMay and Riley in
11:49 am Let MayMay and Riley out
12:09 pm Let MayMay in
12:15 pm Let Mishka in
12:17 pm Let Gus in
12:29 pm MayMay, Riley, and Molly out for lunchtime walk
12:34 pm Let Mishka and Bella out
12:58 pm MayMay, Riley, and Molly back from walk and inside
1:02 pm Let Mishka and Bella in
1:30 pm Let Mishka out
1:45 pm Let Gus out
1:52 pm Let Riley out
2:40 pm Let Gus in
2:44 pm Let Gus out
2:48 pm Let Mishka in
3:10 pm Let Gus in
3:12 pm Let Mishka out
3:48 pm MayMay and Riley go out & then in & then out to greet UPS person Claude with whom they are on a first name basis
3:49 pm MayMay and Riley back in to visit further with UPS person Claude ( a man who loves dogs, thank goodness)
4:03 pm Riley goes out
4:11 Day shift of doorpersons finishes the shift and the night shift of the family Sheehan comes on
Conclusions:
1. Having the cat door open during warmer months increases office productivity 400%.
2. Mishka is seriously the most high maintenance cat on the planet.
3. It takes a village to keep this quintet happy. Fortunately, they have a village.
4. Because each of us lets them in or out as we go by the office door, none of us realized until Wednesday, exactly how much doorperson activity we are engaged in. We are now considering getting ourselves livery of some sort. Perhaps a top hat and forest green overcoat with gold piping and our names emblazoned on the front.
5. Careful analysis of data will reveal that the dogs keep a low profile at the door until lunchtime. This is because after exuberantly greeting each staff person at 8:30 each day, they retire to the living room couches for a morning nap. It’s after their nap and their rejuvenating lunchtime walk that they are refreshed enough to come on duty to supervise all activities in the office for the rest of the day.
6. I would like to discuss all this in more detail, but there is someone at the door.
It’s called the Mishka stretch.