Interviewing, Ironing and Interrogating - A Dream

I was in a square room.
There was one door in the top left corner.There was a window in the bottom right corner. On the left side of the room there was a square 2-top table, regular table height. On the right, by the window there was a waist high rectangle 6-top table. The room was kind of dark, not like someone turned the lights off, but rather like someone never turned the lights on.

My old boss and some man were sitting at the 2-top table. My old boss was interviewing the man but not for a job. He was interviewing him for some kind of school project.

I was at the waist-high 6 top table ironing napkins and doing paperwork, aware of the interview going on but not paying any attention to it. 

All of the sudden I felt a nudge and a rush of air. One of my napkins and a pen went flying. I looked towards the door in the top left corner and saw a blurry shadow leave the room. I followed it. When I exited the room I was in the long hallway of the house I grew up in before it was remodeled. My oldest daughter was just making her way into the bedroom (the bedroom that got turned into the entry-way for the 2-3 readers who remember what the house looked like). I realized it was her. She was the gust of wind and the blurry bit in the room sneaking past me. I asked her why she was sneaking around. She told me that she wasn't really doing anything, just out with her friends. She told me it wasn't a big deal. Besides, she said, it's not like she was in Tennessee like she was last week when she sneaked out to buy a $300 entomology / biology book because she thought it would be a good read. I could see how I would never know she was missing because the time difference is 3 hours and she flew three hours there and three hours back so she got home at roughly the same time she left (it made sense in the dream) but how did she get the money for the plane fare and the book?

Clowns are Drinkers, Too - A Dream

I recently changed jobs. I have the same employer, just a new job. I have a feeling that some weeks are going to be a lot busier and stressful than others, but overall I'm really excited about this new chapter in my life. Also with my new job, I am also working in a new office. My whole office moved into another building and we're in a brand new space. As far as offices go, my new office is pretty nice. Lots of natural light, nice colors, a great place to sit and have lunch - all things the old office didn't have. There are a few things to get used to in the new office, but overall the change has been a good thing. With my new job I moved to a new desk, but the first few months in the new office I was sitting next to the consumer affairs person, the person who gets all the complaints and concerns from callers who bought corked wine or who waited too long to drink their wine, not knowing that not all wines are meant to be aged. I don't know how the consumer affairs person stays so calm and doesn't break out laughing or get angry with the callers. I sit next to her when I see her in the break room. She's a really nice lady.

I had a dream that I worked for the consumer affairs department. My very first phone call was a very angry man who was upset that my company didn't do more to market to clowns. According to the man, clowns drink a lot and a lot of what they drink is wine. We are missing out on a whole lot of money because we don't specifically target the clown population. Clowns would buy our products if they knew about them, if they identified with them, and especially if they had a coupon for them. I asked the man if there was any specific brand of ours he thought clowns would like the most. He told me (although I don't remember what it was)  and so I transferred him to the brand manager that takes care of that brand. Then I hung up the phone and turned around. All the furniture in the room was gone. I left the room. I was barefoot. I saw my new boss setting up for a meeting. I told him I'd be right back because I noticed everyone had their shoes on but me. One guy was barefoot, but I didn't want to be associated professionally with this guy so I thought I needed to get my shoes back on. On my way back to the meeting I got lost in the office hallways and couldn't find the room I was going to and I was really concerned that I wouldn't be able to find the bathroom. I did find the bathroom, but everyone kept walking through my stall to get to their stalls. I had no privacy and my toilet was spraying water out of it and the floor was all wet and there was another toilet right next to mine and its lid kept knocking my seat.

Reeboks and Burgers - A Dream

Have you ever broken up with a friend?
I have once. I did it badly. It was messy.



I read an article in some woman's magazine about breaking up with friends many years ago. I had never heard of the concept. Sure I'd heard of people drifting apart, or people having fights and never speaking to each other again, but I had never heard of people having the "we have to talk . . . " conversation with regular friends.

I knew this woman. For a while we were kind of good friends. We worked together. We saw each other every day at work. We had lunch together just about every day. We hung out outside work as well. There was something about her, though, that left me feeling negative and drained.
Not really knowing if I wanted to cut off all ties with this woman I decided to take a little break from her.  She was a real negative influence on my life. It took her absence for me to realize that. I decided a break up was in order. I broke off all contact possible. I still had to work with her, though.

After about 6 months, our friendly "good mornings" turned into snide eye contact. We tried to ignore each other completely unless there was a chance that she or I could throw the other under some kind of oncoming bus. We were playing a super passive-aggressive Spy vs. Spy game that I was determined not to lose. I definately did not handle the situation correctly. While I don't think she would have responded well to the "we have to talk" talk, I still could have done things differently.

Then one day she left the company. For a few months I would see her on Muni as she had found work in the same neighborhood as our place of employment. Sometimes we'd say hello and sometimes we'd pretend we didn't see each other.  I haven't seen or spoken to her in years. We have no common friends so I don't know what she's doing these days.

I had a dream about her last night. Strange because I haven't been thinking about her. It was a work dream.

We were working at Hof's Hut, (which is a restaurant / hamburger joint / trying to be fancier than it is, but the burgers are pretty good kind of place. I worked at one of their locations when I was 19).
In my dream I couldn't get the time of my shift right. I always had conflicts with the time they wanted me to work. My x-friend kept taking all the good shifts, wearing super white reebok tennis shoes which for some reason really rubbed me the wrong way. She kept getting in my way and I couldn't serve my tables. I threw up my hands, said "fine" and left the restaurant, but not before pouring a glass of apple juice down the vent slats in her locker.

I wonder why I dreamed about her. I wonder why in my dream I let her best me. Do I have some unresolved issue with her? Do I have some unresolved issue with any of my current co-workers? I am feeling a bit stressed about a particular situation at my current job, but it has nothing to do with any conflict with anyone. I do feel bad with how we stopped being friends, but I'm not sorry we don't hang out anymore.

hmmmmm