I have made some sartorial errors in my 14 years as a working mother. I have gotten to work and discovered that I am wearing one black and one blue sock -- or shoe. I have stapled my hem in place. Once I dropped my daughter off at daycare and she pointed out, "Mommy, you're wearing your slippers." But none of these transgressions can compare to a recent experience that once again pointed out to me that working life and sanity do not mix.
I recently started a new job, and I've tried to turn over a new leaf. Up at 6 a.m.. Showered by 6:30. Out the door by...well, I'm working on it.
Sally Owen, who lives in North Carolina, holds down a fulltime job and also manages a household that...
read moreSo, on a recent workday morning, things were running along smoothly. I had even managed to put on makeup and eat breakfast before leaving the house.
Then I got to work. As I walked in, I engaged in conversation with two of my colleagues, who stood near my cubicle as I chatted away, unbuttoning my coat. Until I realized, to my horror, that I was wearing my pajamas.
Just like the nightmare. Just exactly like the nightmare.
I shrieked and snapped my coat shut. Then, instinctively - and insanely - I dropped on all fours under my desk. "You guys can't tell anyone about this!" I screeched from the depths of my cubicle.
My female colleague laughed. Not in a mean way, just the way you'd laugh if you watched someone appear in your workplace, take off her coat and reveal her jammies. My male coworker - bless his heart, as we say here in the South - said, "It's okay, it's like a flannel shirt."
But it wasn't. It was clearly my pink, plaid pajama top.
I knew instantly how it had happened. I had gotten nearly dressed, but realized the blouse I was planning to wear was wrinkly. I put my pajama top back on, and went downstairs to put the blouse in the dryer. In the flurry of lunch-making and homework-finding, I had forgotten the blouse, put on my coat, and showed up for work still wearing my nightclothes.
Luckily I live just a few minutes away from my office. I quickly put my coat back on, went home, got my blouse (still gamely tumbling around in the dryer) and was back at work within a half an hour.
When I arrived for the second time that day, my coworkers thoughtfully refrained from making the obvious jokes and acted like nothing had happened.
And, by great effort of will, I resisted the urge to crawl back under my desk....read more blogs
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