Empathy for the mundane
March 2, 2009•360 words
email from a colleague...
7.30am I have two mundane reports to finish today; I got up to start early. Found numerous reasons to do other things. Email Jim, email Bob, second guess emails that I had sent in my sent items box and procrastinated whether I needed to send them in the first place. I then did a quick mental summery about how much work I actually generated by sending them in the first place.
9.00 (hour and a half later) opened the reports up on my desktop. Cracked knuckles in an exaggerated and dramatic manner as if to suggest, (and maybe to try and convince myself) that I was about to start on some epic journey or write my first novel. Pondered briefly, why knuckles crack and does cracking them actually do any long-term damage. I made a mental note to look this up later on the Internet.
Decided my keyboard's feet needed cleaning and noticed keys could also probably do with a clean. Noticed Vowels on keyboard are a tiny bit faded from other keys and 'Z' looks much brighter than all of the rest. Sat back and considered how many times I actually use 'Z'. Sat back for longer and tried to think how many times I would use it then thought about what words I know that begin with 'Z' anyway. Couldn't really get past Zebra, Zenophobic and Xylophone (I was sure it was a 'Z'.)
Anyway considered how I might be able to use 'Z' more in reports, so that the faded keys match on the keyboard. Also decided to use words beginning with 'Z' much more in conversation, then got up from chair and tried it out on Anna, got strange look and then ignored, clearly Anna was not up to speed with my current dilemma, or was confused by my limited 'Z' vocabulary.
9.20 Decided this was not the way forward and have just ordered (I really have) a new keyboard on Amazon, which I don't need. On the plus side, I get free postage as it was a supersaver item, so all not lost.
Decided to email you.
9.33 Looking at mouse!