Wednesday, February 1

Treat Day

Yesterday was my Treat Day at work. Every Tuesday we all take turns to bring in a treat for everyone else in the office. With about 30 coworkers, one's Treat Day occurs a little over twice a year. Treats are usually bagels, donuts, or homemade baked goods.

This week, it was my turn. I had hoped to design a treat that would coincide with the State of the Union Address. You know, little telephone-shaped cookies or gingerbread men with large ears. However, I could not come up with something clever, so I fell back on the old safety - N&N Cookies (names have been changed for trademark reasons).

Sunday evening I went to the grocery store and picked up my supplies. I prepared two batches. It took me at least 2 hours and I ate quite a few cookies during the process. I messed up the recipe by mixing the ingredients in the wrong order. They didn't look right and when they were baking they began to burn. So, I took them out of the oven earlier than the recipe called for. They looked a little funny, as I earlier wrote, but they tasted fine. I went to bed - no problem. I almost left a note for Jake and Katie to try them in the morning, but thank heavens I didn't.

I woke up on Monday morning just fine. I trudged over to the gym and did my 36 laps (My new minimum - Hurrah!) However, during my final lap I had an incredible urge to get to the bathroom. Right. Then. Immediately. I hopped out of the pool - literally. I skipped a shower. I'm also going to skip the next part of the story with only the comment that gyms with pools should develop "water friendly toilet paper."

I continued along with my morning ritual. Dry off, contacts, avoid the naked old men, try not to sing along with the radio - you know, the usual. Ten minutes later I was back at home. And I immediately made my way to the bathroom. Ok. Something was wrong. I decided not to go to work as I didn't like the idea of running to the men's room at random times. And I have never used a sick day before, so it would be somewhat of an adventure.

The strange thing was, though, that I didn't feel sick. I was already wide awake, so I wasn't going back to bed. I took the opportunity to clean my bathroom. And then the kitchen. And then my room. I talked to Jake and Katie, who had eaten dinner with me the night before but they were fine. So, I figured that it must have been the undercooked cookies. I'm glad that I didn't serve them to the whole office. Well, sort of glad. It would have been a funny experience, especially because it wasn't painful and I never felt sick.

I'm only comfortable telling you this story because everyone at work already knows it. I had ended up going in to the office in the afternoon and my coworkers were nervous about me spreading my germs. So, to keep them from ostracizing me, I had to explain that it was something I made. I then had to promise them that I would buy my treat and not bake for Treat Day.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

donny i'm really glad you posted about poop. and entitled the post "Treat Day". seriously, VERY CLEVER.

Anonymous said...

fun story, D. I've never heard of anyone taking time off work for the runs, but I applaud your at-home productivity. No go on the Pepto? Remember when I gave Hannah pepto freshman year and she didnt poop for days? I still feel kinda bad about that.