Spoil Your Lunch

I'm about to tell you something shocking...

I'm a girl.

Yes, I know. I should have let you sit down first and brace yourself. My clever subtleties like wearing skirts and glitter often conceal my inner femininity... At least from EngineerFriends. 

However, it remains true. Although I can (don't usually, but can) cuss like a sailor, work like a lumberjack and spit... I also enjoy frilly undergarments, drinking something sweet out of a pretty glass and pretending I'm a princess.**

There are times at work where this shines through more brightly than others. Sometimes it's the local fauna (read: spiders) that bring out my inner Disney Girl, where I shriek and pull my feet up on my chair until someone comes to rescue me.. Sometimes it's something exciting that riles me into my feminine mode, where I giggle and flit about and my excitement expells itself from my flailing fingertips. And sometimes... it's shopping.

See, part of my job is to shop for the office supplies. I get a request from an employee, and I go through our vendors and find the best price and buy it with the company account. (This, then, creates an invoice which I have to process. Happy circle, no?) It's a little more exciting because I don't have to use my own money... And the thrill of the hunt can be pretty awesome. There are some great deals on Post-Its out there. (And, of course, I get to dictate what colors we get. "Oh! Sorry, EngineerFriend! They only had the Vibrant Violet packets this week! I guess you'll just have to make do.)

For today, I got a request for some kitchen supplies from a satellite office. My shopping list: Coffee, creamer, pretzels, and "two or three kinds of candy. Whatever you choose will be fine."

Internal dialogue went like this:

<rainbows and sunshine and smiling puppies> SQUEE! Candy! Whatever I want to pick!

But wait... I don't get to eat it.

This isn't for my office.

I just have to choose it, and someone else will eat it.

And I have to order it from an office supply website, so really, their selection is going to stink.

No use getting my hopes up. I'll get basic hard candy and basic chewy candy and I'll be on my merry way.

Boring, but merry.

(End of internal dialogue.)

So, resignedly, I signed on to  my favorite of the office supply order websites. 

Search term: "Candy." Results:

FIFTY NINE ITEMS.

Now, don't get too hasty. Two of these items were tea (Candy Apple, anyone?) and and one was a note pad (Ribbon Candy paper?), so really there were only fifty six types of candy to choose from.

And so began my mid-morning splurge of candy shopping.

New Internal Dialogue:

Do I get them Jolly Ranchers? Tootsie Rolls? Starburst? M&M's? So many choices! So many decisions!

Oh my goodness, I didn't know you get that many Jelly Bellys  in one package!

Saf-T Pops?! They still make Saf-T Pops?! Oh, my goodness! Want!

Oooh... Candied fruit slices. 

Oooooh... Life savers. 

Oooooooh... Gummy bears. 

I can't pick. The pressure is too much.

Search term: "Basic Candy." Results:

Original hard candy mix.

Original soft-'n'-chewy mix.

That, I can handle.

** A warrior princess. Don't judge.

MONDAY NOONTIME NOMS!

EngineerFriend (Over the loud-speaker system): Any architect dial my extension. Any architect, my extension. If you can spell "Charette."

EngineerFriend (Over the loud-speaker system): <music plays>

Sunny: Did you mean to do that?

EngineerFriend: Yes. This song is awesome. They should rock out.

EngineerFriend: You've been useless since two o'clock this afternoon. Please go home.