Ever have those weeks where nothing seems to be going your way and you just can’t win?

Welcome to my week.

Now yes, I understand that these are all minuscule annoyances happening in a #firstworldproblems way, that doesn’t make them feel any smaller or less annoying. So I’m going to vent here. Fair warning – this is not intended to reflect poorly on anyone, we all have bad weeks and writing is my way of getting it out of my head so I can concentrate on the more important things in life & work. Sure, I also wrote it in my journal, but just let me tell you people reading – you are not alone, you don’t have to keep your emotions bottled up. Regardless of how sparkly someone else’s life looks, sometimes things just don’t go as planned and that’s OK. Keep powering through.

Let’s start with the FAM trip shall we? Nassau, Bahamas. A great property, intimate, everything easy to get to. More so than Lynchburg College if you can imagine that – honestly, 5 minutes or less to get wherever you want to go.

I love the resorts where I can wander and breathe, but I enjoy the ease of getting from one place to another quickly, hence why I went to a small college for 4 years. But I digress. I had a group of 12 agents joining me and we had a FABULOUS time. Disregard the media rumors, look at how our own US media is covering the political campaigns. Staff was helpful, happy and smiling. Everyone took extra great care of us and all the rest of the guests vacationing seemed to be having a lovely time.

Updates, renovations, we’re just the minions. Need-to-know-basis type stuff, the really important stuff.

It’s out of my control. Yes Dad, I can see you holding up your hands in a circle, non-verbally communicating the “sphere of influence”… I still hate it.

So I pretty much took an office week to get myself back together. I jumped in the Vacation Mobile on Friday and was met by a lovely crack that stretched from the corner of the passenger side, diagonally to the middle of the windshield. Awesome. Guess I’m not going to UPS.

Call director, go to FORD, be told Ford no longer replaces windshields. Fine, can I get an oil change please? Do you happen to have a vendor you work with for windshield replacements too? Great! Thanks Smiley.

Call Safelite, oh… no appointments available till Tuesday? Great, I’m supposed to drive to Alabama for a bridal show this weekend. Call the other vendor – they need approval from Enterprise Fleet? no answer… cool, I’ll just keep trying.

By now it was time for a retail therapy break. OK, I was actually looking for a STAR awards dress for December and a Global Sales dress for next week…

Winner. Of course that wasn’t the only one I bought… I also managed to snag 2 Lilly Pulitzer dresses that were “on sale” but still $100 each. whoops. Oh well, I did a bridal show the other week… plus I have a few coming up.

I make my way home to request a rental car through my corporate office. For some reason, this was the hardest thing EVER for the girl in the office. I sent “hi! I have a bridal show in Alabama this weekend and I need a rental car from New Orleans so I can drive there as the Sandals Mobile is out of commission”. I get the response of “where is Alabama? city & state”…. ummm what?! Alabama IS the state, I need it in Louisisana so I can drive it to Alabama… why is this difficult to understand?

So she books me a rental car at the New Orleans Airport…. because if one needs a rental car, one must have a way to get to and from the airport right!? no, I’ll just do it myself, so I found the Enterprise place 2 miles from my house and swapped the reservation and scheduled a pickup… that’s their whole tagline “we’ll pick you up”. The driver was rude when he called to ‘confirm my address’ because I have no idea where I live and nobody else can find me… I get this a lot from Uber and Lyft drivers. So I’m finished loading my pull up banners, suitcase, and 3 bags into the shuttle before he asks if he can help. Thanks, but I’ve already got it. Then asks how to get back to his place of business. *facepalm*

I go though all the questions to pick up the rental, request cruise control for my 5 hour highway drive and they roll out an old, grey, Hyundai something…. don’t get me wrong, I love Hyundai. I have one of my own. But this one was so banged up, I carefully pointed out every ding & scratch before signing anything and getting into it. I should have opened the door to smell it before signing… (*note to self for next time). It smelled like a herd of cats died in it, and no, no cruise control. OK.

This called for wine once I got to Birmingham. World Market carries Kung Fu Girl which is a favorite in our house so I parked and clicked the button to lock the car. nothing. REALLY?! I have to put the key in the door like a Neanderthal. Not the worst thing ever, just inconvenient. Wine Purchased and to Target for Febreeze and air fresheners. I used probably half the can of 2x odor defense Febreeze. It still smelled.

You know where the worst place to be is when you’re feeling highly lonely and super single? A Bridal Show. That was my Sunday Funday…. “Congratulations! When’s your date? Have you thought about a Honeymoon yet?” for 4 hours. I was so out of my mind that when I got back from my Logan’s Steakhouse dinner (all the rolls, salad, potato skins & steak w/broccoli) I started watching a movie on the couch and went “I should probably walk on the treadmill if I want to watch this”… so I did… for an hour.

Monday’s conference call was again… an hour and a half long before I could finally get on the road home. But wouldn’t you know it!! There was a huge, sad accident on the main highway (prayers to all those involved) that was diverting everyone through Tuscaloosa. Seriously, an accident in the exact same spot on both North and Southbound lanes at the exact same time. They CLOSED the highway… So I diverted 4 miles (that took an hour to drive) to the Krispy Kreme store for chocolate covered & sprinkled donuts and booked another hotel room.

Does my bad luck subside there?! NO! for some reason, now my external hard drive that holds all my work information – because we’re told not to store anything on the company computers – won’t be recognized by the computer…. IT JUST WORKED THIS MORNING! Driver Error… I still haven’t been able to fix it. I also scoured petfinder & craigslist for puppies/dogs because I’m tired of being alone ALL. THE TIME. Almost had a 2 yr old German shepherd/husky that the poor guy needed “gone tonight” because he says he’s moving to Canada, but I didn’t trust it… And my hotel said “no pets”.

Up early, and still grumpy I trek 4 hours home to unload the rental and return it. They heard all about the issues and ‘you’re welcome for the air freshener I left in there. That car is disgusting and I expected everything to work when I rent’. So they only charged $52 for 3 days.

I was told by Safelite that my appointment time was anywhere between 12pm-5pm so here I am still fighting to get my information off my hard drive while waiting for windshield replacement. I also received my fabulous new Rent the Runway “final sale” dress and wouldn’t you know…. it doesn’t fit. After the customer service girl tries to tell me “we don’t do exchanges or refunds on these”  I about lose it.

M: OK, I’d like to speak to a supervisor please

Agent: I can take your number and have them call you back?

M: no, I’ll speak to them now. I don’t trust that they’ll call me back.

A: nobody is available to speak with you now.

M: that’s fine, I’ll wait….. *gets put on hold for 10 minutes*…. in the back of my mind going. “there’s no F*CKING way you’re stealing $170 for a dress I couldn’t try on and now can’t wear… .I will go NY Melissa on your ass”

Supervisor gets on, we chat about what’s going to be done and I suggest that they’re not just going to steal my money and not offer a solution. I don’t think so. Sure I’ll send it back, you can either find me the next size or refund my money. great. Thank you. End of discussion.

Is this week over yet? I’m ready to see my family in Turks 😦

#firstworldproblems