summer in the southland especially makes me reach for two things: a cold drink (with or without an umbrella), and some nice rootsy, bluesy rock. and today’s guilty pleasure monday selection, while not well-known, is a special song for me.
all the time in the world, which you can also find on my muxtape as various (since it wouldn’t edit, for reasons i will never understand), is a song by the subdudes, a group from nawlins, looziana (i am learning to pronounce things properly). i cannot claim to have sought them out at first; i actually became acquainted with them, and this song in particular, thanks to a mixtape my best buddy murph made me in the mid ’90s. i never actually listened to the aforementioned mixtape until one fateful day.
i was in an untenable situation at work. i won’t go into details, but suffice to say, i was not in the right place, i was not being given any direction, and i had a lot of responsibility with very little authority. i knew things were wearing me down, and i knew this was probably not an optimal situation, but i didn’t quite know what to do.
one monday, i walked in, dressed in ratty jeans and t-shirt. i was going to pack up my office, as i was told i was going to be moving offices. precisely at 9, i was called into my boss’s office. he was seated there, along with the company’s VP of human resources. not a good sign. i sat down. my boss, who, i have to believe has a good heart in non-work situations, was a bit on the bombastic side, immediately barking at me: wreke: you’ve been terminated!
wha?????
then, the HR veep interjected, no, boss, wreke hasn’t been terminated. her job has been terminated and she has been restructured. wreke has not been terminated!
what????? i hadn’t even had coffee yet, and i was hit broadside with this one.
the HR Veep continued. you have an interview out at the new campus (about 15 miles away.) have you ever been there?
uh, no, i replied, still completely dumbfounded.
you have an interview there at 11. i’ll give you directions. you need to find a job within the company within 30 days or you really are terminated.
i’ll say it again: wha????
i put some stuff in jo-jo, my little-honda-that-could (theme song: jo-jo was a car who thought he was a honda, but he knew he couldn’t last), and looked down at myself. i wore my worst jeans and an old shirt today. i thought i was going to move boxes. and now i was going on an interview?
i was doomed.
in fact, i wasn’t. i later learned that i could have been terminated, like many other people that day, but my original boss at the company, whom i adore, knew my sorry situation and had arranged for me to have an interview over in the international division. lucky for me, my interview was with a person i knew, albeit only virtually and not in real life, a person who had helped me with some tech work remotely while the person was in germany and i was in the US. i wrote to said person and indicated that i owed him a beer when he returned to the US.
little did i know that the person had returned during the year and that he was a she 🙂 and in spite of the fact that i almost talked my way out of the job, she hired me. she ended up being a fantastic boss; a terrific and highly respected colleague; a person my kids call aunt; and a clutch, clutch friend i treasure to this very day. (also, no one sings hong kong phooey in german the way she can.)
but, back to the song, right? well. after i finished that fateful interview, figuring i had blown it, i went to make the long drive home and call BS. great news like this has to be shared, right? i put murphy’s mix for the first time into the tape deck (remember those, kids?), fast forwarded it to a random spot, and started to play. and d’ya know what song i was in the middle of?
yep. all the time in the world. and right out there, in scenic dulles, va, a place that doesn’t actually exist, i had an epiphany: i may be on the job hunt, but after two years of long hours, i had a break. i had breathing space.
and, for the first time in years, i had all the time in the world.
You know I’m hungry when I wake up
I’ll be damned if I’m not sleepy when I eat.
The only time I feel good,
is when I got a little dirt underneath my feet
I don t mind eating fast food,
as long as I can eat it real slow
I’m gonna have me some high times
but I might live them way down low
Great story! Great song. Perfect for a monday!
You’re welcome, although I’m not sure why this song is a “guilty” pleasure. I tend to reserve that designation for songs by groups consisting of androgynously dressed young men whose ability to dance far exceeds their ability to sing.
yeah, not as guilty as, say, lulu singing to sir with love 😉
Love that story!
🙂 i remember that fateful day. we sat in that sunny conference room that i believe was eventually converted to an office for one of the “ubiquitous” execs. i do remember our interview, and i recall you were a bit frazzled (as you should have been!) and said something to the effect of “when one window closes, another one opens…” And, it was true. 🙂
I love the Subdudes! All my CDs Jayhawks through the Wallflowers (thank good for alphabetizing!) were stolen by the movers. I haven’t been able to replace everything yet, but you’ve inspired me to download the Subdudes.
ilinap — that totally bites! i wish i had something to share! (note to self: one day, i need to convert cassettes onto disks.)
maren: thank G-d the window opened — and i didn’t jump out of it 🙂 you da (non) man, superbrain.
Wow, that’s a great story, Miss Wreke. Just a guess? Had you been dressed in your favorite dressy work clothes that day, you might have been less candid at your (unnerving, blind-siding, totally unfair) interview. Maybe the ratty jeans were a good luck charm.
Plus, your musical spectrum is so much broader than mine ever will be. Got the Jojo reference immediately, of course (stuck in the 60s-70s) but I don’t know the Subdudes. Sigh.