The Inevitable Key

After work yesterday (roughly around 11:30am), I came home to a blinking red light on my AT&T router box thingie meaning I had no access to the Internet. Normally this means the software decided to update without actually installing, but yesterday, Explorer told me there was a connection problem. I did what any guy would do and I picked up the phone to call AT&T because I was tired and I didn’t want to trial and error. I click on and hear nothing. No dial tone. Fuck. The phone is disconnected. Only it’s not. It’s still in service, it’s just not working.

Fuck. I check my grandmother’s house (next door) and dial tone. Why am I the only one singled out? So I walked to the back yard to check the box and see if anyone shithead teenager decided to pull a prank and that’s when I see the orange plastic barrier in the alley. So I walk toward the alley and see a fucking hole in the ground. Someone severed my phone line. By this time, I had already contacted AT&T via my cell phone. They told me that the line would be up by today.

This morning, I called the stadium manager to tell him I wasn’t going to be able to make it in, telling him (in short) my situation and how I was waiting for the technician so I can ask him who was responsible for my situation. When the manager called me back, he told me that it was all right (I did everything I needed to yesterday and today would’ve been just busy work). I had the day off until my supervisor called me to tell me I had to be in today because the team was having early practice and I needed to wash their clothes, which I quickly added that until he teaches me how to handle their uniforms, I didn’t want to wash anything because I was afraid I’d ruin them someway and didn’t want that riding on my head. He agreed and would teach me later, but if I can still go in and take inventory. I counted the most important things: towels and hangers. Because I was already there, I called him to tell him I’d be washing a few of the towels, but because I didn’t have the clubhouse keys, I had to borrow the stadium key, which belongs to the manager. If we were to stay, I had to acquire the clubhouse key from the team manager. When I told the stadium manager that my supervisor wanted the key, he called the team manager to bring him the keys.

The team manager did bring the key, but only left the one for the home team clubhouse, but we’re in the visitor clubhouse because the university is still in the home team clubhouse (this gets redundant). So in the end, I stayed with the stadium key, which I had to turn in by five because that’s when the manager leaves. I called my super and told him this. I also told him this meant I was going home before five because I had to return the key back. He responded okay.

When I got home, I called him to tell him that I’d left the number of towels and hangers on the clean towels, which I left on the dryer. Then I told him, again, why I had left. His response, “You gave the key back to him?”

“Yes. It was his key. [Team Manager] only left us the home team key which wasn’t any good to us because we’re not in there. He kept the visitor’s key.”

“What key did you use?”

“The stadium key.”

“And what did you do with the key [Team Manager] gave you?”

“I gave it back to [Stadium Manager].”

“You gave him the key?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t for the clubhouse we’re in. It’s for the home team clubhouse.”

“So what key did you use?”

“[Stadium Manager]’s key.”

“And you did what with the key?”

“I gave it back to him.”

“Why? We need that for the morning.”

“But [Team Manager] has the clubhouse key so he’s going to be the one to unlock the door.”

“Did you wash their clothes?”

“No, you said you were going to show me.”

“Why did you leave?”

“Because I had to return the key.”

“Why did you return the key?”

Well, you see where this is going. So after a little while longer, he finally got what I meant. Which is all right, but I’m afraid that our communication is going to be something like this and that makes me a little iffy of how we’re going to get along. I’m known for quitting a job because of the way someone treats me. And my track record follows me, because of the previous team that was housed there. So…I don’t know. This is gonna be one hell of a year.