So originally I was scheduled to work 10am-6:30pm but my parents were going to a play and wouldn't be able to take me home so I talked to one of my coworkers. She was scheduled to work over at Taco Bell from 2pm-9:30pm. It was going to be her first day working on that side of our store. I have wanted to work there for a while, and she had no desire to, so she offered to give me a ride home after work if I switched her. I told her that would be wonderful so we switched. She told me that she lives about 2 minutes from the mall so it would be no problem to drive there at 9:30 to give me a ride home.
Flash Forward to Tonight at 9:40
We got out of work a little late but that happens all the time. So I went outside to wait for Shannon. I didn't have her number so I couldn't call her to see if she had arrived yet. So I waited. Time went by...it was almost 10.
I called my house and Stephanie answered. I told Steph that my ride hadn't come so soon I was going to start walking home so I didn't know how long it was going to take. I asked Steph if Leah was in bed, she said Leah was in bed. Then Steph told me that because the guys were working on two of our bathrooms the water was shut off and couldn't be turned on until Monday. I started crying...this was too much. I had just been working 8 hours. I needed a shower. There was no way I could wait until Monday evening to shower.
Steph and I said bye and then I walked over to Barnes and Nobles to use the restroom...since it would be a long walk home and no running water. After using the restroom I went over to the Starbucks and got a Caramel Mochaccino to drink on the way. Then I went over to the movie theatre to say hi to my friend Mia who happened to be working. Then at 10:10pm I began walking home. I texted Andrea telling her my situation we texted back and forth for a bit, though it was difficult because I wasn't feeling the vibrations. So I kept missing texts and phone calls. I had to check every few minutes to see if I had gotten anything. I figured putting it on a ring tone wouldn't help with all the cars zooming past.
I missed a call from Juanis (my manager) at one point. I didn't call back though. I called Craig to talk so I wouldn't feel so lonely but he missed my call. Then he called back and left a message saying he was bowling.
It took a long time to walk. There is one stretch of road that I had to walk that was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be...and it was very dark. There weren't many street lights and there were tall trees on either side of the road. It was a bit nerve wracking and not seemingly safe to walk along there. I got a voicemail from my mom saying they were home and telling me to call if I need picked up. At this time it was almost 10:40 and I was almost half way to my house. I called my house and Mark picked up the phone. He asked where I was and I told him I was almost to the two gas stations and he said "You're Walking!!!". When he said this I started crying. I was like "I had no other option" which was probably not completely true. There were several people I could have called but none of them would have been their quickly and a good number of them would have already been sleeping. So Mark said that he would send mom to pick me up.
My mom came to the gas station and picked me up and drove me home. We talked on the way home about why maybe Shannon didn't come. My mom also told me the whole situation about the water, she said Mark was working to get it to be fixed so we could turn it on to shower and stuff. That was a huge relief.
When we got home I put away some food from work and then I was crying again from being stressed and so my mom gave me a big hug and then mark came and hugged too.
I think I walked about 2 miles maybe a little more...and that got my about half way home. I decided that next time I would call someone no matter how far they would have to come or how asleep that had been.
3 comments:
Gosh. Even though I'd be way toward the bottom of the list, you could've called me, and though you would've had to wait about an hour for public transit to take me to SHV, you wouldn't be walking alone.
There are any number of reasons you coworker didn't show up. Most likely, she was just at home and forgot. It would be sad if she had gone out with friends or something and forgot, and it would be tragic if it was intentional. I think it was just an accident.
But at least you're safe.
Put Aunt Bev in your phone right now! I would have been home and wide awake at 10 or 11 or even 12 on 95% of nights! You can refer to Tim's recent blog if you need proof that I am happy to drive nephews and nieces any distance when they need a ride!
Here's a hug from me, too!
awww laurel!! :( :(
if you EVER EVER EVER need a ride anywhere you can call me! i'm a night owl and i otherwise have no life so i don't mind at all! don't hesitate to ask.
but i am glad you got home safely even though home meant no water! ugh! but at least there are cool people there :)
p.s. my phone number is 760.5521 in case you don't have it!
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