Be nice.

Be nice. It's the missing commandment. In fact, I feel like "be nice" could easily replace some of the other commandments. I mean c'mon, "I shall not kill"? -- that's so obvious. But apparently, being nice is not so obvious. And, if I can't get people to be nice to me, in my current condition of pregnancy, who can we expect to be nice?
Today, I called my ob/gyn office. Which is actually a midwifery. They have a reputation of being overwhelmingly nurturing. However, when I called I was greeted with an immediate snippy attitude. I began, "Hi, my name is Tabitha, I called yesterday..." and was cut off by Claire who responded, "yes, and it is only 9:08 so I haven't gotten to that yet."
I took a deep breath.
"Thanks for letting me finish my sentence Claire!", I thought. How could I have even known who, if anyone, got my message yesterday. And why the hell does Claire need to immediately get defensive?
She continues, "This is a small office and we usually...". At this point I am barely listening. Mostly, I am trying to contain myself from telling her how rude I think she is. But, I have to go back there and endure more open legged humilating appointments. So, it seems prudent to just suck it up.
As I hung up, I couldn't help but think that maybe I should look for another doctor. I hate being up here and away from the doctor who I know and have trusted for so long. Now I am stuck with the damn midwifery and Claire.
My next call was to my Human Resources department to find out information about maternity leave. The baby is due in mid July. I asked if I could still take the 12 weeks maternity leave beginning in September. The answer I recieved was spoken in a wimpering and sarcastic vioce and went a bit like this, "Well, typically faculty take six weeks and that would take you until September 1st. I suppose you could take the additional 12 if you feel you need 12 more weeks of bonding time."
As many of you know, I am not thrilled about the prospect of caring for an infant. I don't particularly think I need extended time to bond. But, since I now live a minimum of an hour away from anyone I would trust to help me out with the baby, it would be nice to not have to figure out who can care for a 6 week old baby while I go back to work. But, I suppose, even the mere suggestion is enough to send some people into a frenzy of meaness toward the person inquiring.
Don't these customer service gurus know that I am especially sensitive due to varying hormonal levels right now? At least the chic at the midwifery should know. Even if they don't know, remembering the simple rule, "Be Nice" would help to avert these unfortunate interactions.

And then there were none...

For the last three days my office printer has been out of ink. Currently, my office has a very advanced system of keeping track of supplies. One woman in the office just orders large quantities of random supplies in the hopes it will meet the needs of our staff. It's not unlike hitting a pinata for office supplies.
Of course, three days ago when I discovered my black ink was empty and there were no replacements, I could have requested that ink be ordered. I didn't.
Today, I really needed to print something. I tried just printing in magenta, but, that didn't work. I looked through the pile of available printer ink for the 5th time -- no luck. I was desperate and came up with a plan.
I walked around the office and identified another printer that used the same type of ink cartridge. The person at that desk was out to lunch. I put my plan into action. It was easy -- I replaced my empty cartridge with her full cartridge and vice versa. I was back in business.
About an hour later I heard her complaining that she couldn't understand how her printer ink was out. She said that she had just replaced all four colors. Someone else suggested that perhaps her ink was stolen. I just couldn't stop laughing.