Last Hour of the Work Day

By the time we've reached our last hour of work for the day, we've had more than enough thank you very much. We're tired, we really tried to do the best we could and as usual we fell a little short but still what the hell, we got a lot done and it's only a job for Christ sake plus we're gonna run into another shitload of tasks and problems and drama when we get home but in the last hour, home seems like a dream to us now, even the ride home which is a goddamned can of worms is something that we crave.

Still, we've got to pay attention. We don't want a lack  of caring to swoop in during the final hour and screw up the whole day or make it necessary to spend another goddamned second in this place before we get into our cars and escape with no posse to worry about.

We've been here hundreds if not thousands of times in our lives. We are very aware of how the clock slows down to a crawl and sometimes seemingly stops. We looked at the clock what seemed like twenty minutes ago and damn when we look back only two minutes have passed. Tell myself a joke.

Reminds me of the time the pilot of a four engine plane flying over the ocean got on the speaker and said "We've lost one of our engines. We're gonna be up here an extra fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes pass and the pilot comes back on and says, "We lost another engine we're gonna be up here an additonal half hour."

Ten agonizing minutes pass. Pilot again "we've lost another engine. Add another fifteen minutes to your ETA.

At this point passenger Joe Ciotoli turned to his traveling companion Tim McCallum and said, "Jesus Christ Tim, if we lose another engine we'll be up here all day."

Hold that thought....now look up at the clock, that must have taken at least five minutes.

Shit....just two minutes ticked off. 

I really don't like this job. Nobody appreciates me and they keep making me do tasks that somebody else should be doing. I've got seniority but that doesn't count for much these days. Plus my "boss" loves to drop in at the end of the day just to see how things are goin. If I ever get to be a boss, I'm not gonna drop in on anybody during the last hour of work unless the place is on fire and the guy I'm dropping in on is still holding the torch and even then I'm gonna have somebody else take care of the situation.

I've only got a half hour left. I've got paperwork to do that I hate doing which I put off until the last half hour because it takes me 25 minutes to do it and I know that when I'm done, there will be just five minutes left in the day.

Sometimes I think that nobody reads these summary sheets so why do I do them but every so often someone will compliment me on the accuracy and humor of my summarys. Deb is my boss today and I know she gets a kick out of my reprting so it's not a drudgery which means that time is starting to speed up even as I fill in the blanks with checkmarks and observations.

5 minutes left. I'm gonna make it. We're gonna make it. This is the reason we work, the last five minutes. Our work is either completed or about to be completed and we've done our job. We handled a bunch of sticky situations skillfully and thoughfully. The last minute is the pinnacle. We don't get this feeling on the weekend which goes on and on until Sunday night when we start worrying about Monday. I love this job. I'm good at it. Nobody handed me a hot gun. 

These moments disappear with retirement. Perhaps this is why people fade when retired unless they can find something to do that will provide them with tasks and functions that have an ending time so they can get the feeling that they're almost done and somebody gives a shit then as that feeling glows and is appreciated, then BAM like that

we're done.