Days of My Life

When I worked as the office manager of a US Senator in downtown Richmond, I encountered all sorts of strange situations and crazy...I mean, interesting...people. There was the lady who thought she was registering multiple complaints on a bill by calling dozens of times a day using different names, until I recognized her voice and realized she was picking names in sequence from the phonebook. There was the man who wanted the Senator to do something about his neighbor who tickled his feet by operating a magnetic device next door. And there the homeless man who lived in the alley next door and gave me "presents," like a baby bird who fell from its nest. Try explaining why you have a baby bird in a Kleenex box on your desk to a boss who's having a bad day. ;-)

Working at a public university has had its share of interesting experiences too. One of the first calls I took was from an irate circus manager who was upset because his elephants were too tall to fit in the door of our gymnasium where the circus was being held. :-) His elephants were unhappy, he told me, and so were their friends the zebras. I'm sorry, sir, but I can't make the door larger...

Even when things were supposed to go to alumni relations, it could get interesting. Some large companies like to give gifts to our upcoming graduates to promote their businesses, but don't always notify us of what they were planning to do. I walked into my office one day to find 300 goodie bags of Gillette body wash, deoderant and razors stacked neatly on most of my available floor space. Of course, I shouldn't forget that later in the week Weyerhauser paper company decided to "Go Green" by delivering 300 saplings to my office as well. I stacked them on top of the Gillette boxes and wrote a sign that said "Don't Ask."

But today was really fun.

I got to meet Robert E. Lee and his wife. :-)

We must be on the reenactor route because the Pickens-Salley House where we work is a 1860s mansion donated to the university. Maybe I'll get to meet Stonewall Jackson too...