Another loooong day

(End of the brochure saga - see yesterday's post for the first part)

I leave the house at 8:30 foolishly thinking that it would only take me 30 minutes to get to the printer. At 9, I'm not even halfway there. Turning on the radio, we learn that they decided to fix a portion of the highway. We make a detour and arrive at the printer at 10 am.

The person in charge explains that someone arrived at 9:30 am with a rush job for the printing of 300 pages of a 2-page flyer. Thinking it was me, they accepted the job. I can't blame them, their conversation went:

Printer guy: Were you the one who called last night?

Client: I'm not sure, my boss just sent me here to day and instructed me to tell you that I need the brochures tonight.

Printer guy: How many copies do you need?

Client: 300.

Printer guy: And your boss' name is?

Client: Happy.

Her boss' name is Happy. It does sound like Abie! Before I faint, he explains that they still can print my brochures. But it will take more time as I'll have to be queued after Happy's printing job. Joey, the printer guy, promises to call me when the job is done.

Since their office is now 1.5 hours away from home, I go to the nearby mall to shop. Luckily, I have a gift certificate that allows me to purchase turtleneck sweaters for my Tokyo trip. To breathe color in an otherwise boring lawyer's stiff suit - I get 3 solid color ones in red, purple and teal. I walk around and see an back overcoat at 70% off, I grab one as well. I convince myself that seeing the coat was a heavenly sign - you really don't see much winter clothing in a country where the weather never drops below 18 degrees Celsius.

For lunch, I order a sandwich and potato salad combo and gobble it up while I eat. A former officemate sees me and we chat. I mention going to Tokyo and she suggests that I buy some thick stockings. Since stockings were cheap, I head to the nearby department store to get some. As I walk towards the ladies accessories section, I notice some luggages on sale. I fall in love with a blue polycarbonate hand-carry that only costs $15. It was the only remaining stock so I lug it around the store.

The brochures aren't ready at 3:30 PM so I call up G and ask her to meet me at the designers' place at 4:30 PM. I realize that I left her shoes at home so I call home and ask my mother-in-law to bring it. Mama's excited to see the gown, too (she's paying for it!)

The gown is beautiful! It still needed some adjustments, though. Mama leaves G and I at the shop to wait for the gown. They give us a perfect-fitting gown at 5:30 PM. At the same time, the printer calls to tell me that the brochures will be ready at 7:30 PM. I decide to go to the grocery. I finish at 7 PM and arrive at the printers by 8 PM. Only 199 copies of the brochure were there! They find out that there are still 111 copies left with the other cutter (They had to split the jobs because one supplier cannot cut and fold all 300 copies in an hour.) I read a book while they fetch the rest of the brochures from the cutters.

Finally, at 9 PM, which is literally, at the end of my day, I see all 300 copies of the brochures printed, cut and folded. I was so happy to see them that I just wanted to use several copies to wallpaper my office workspace!

It takes me 45 minutes to get home (traffic has lessened as it was already late.) I forget about the brochures as soon as I put them in my suitcase. Now, it's time to pack for Tokyo!