Saturday, August 15, 2009

Venting

Maybe, just maybe, today could be chalked up to the worst day in my life lately. Not the whole day, but 4 1/2 hrs of horribleness that have left me so drained, I want to stick my head in a bucket of sand.

Daniel's co-worker was throwing a company picnic. There have been a couple of these over the past 5 years that we've been married, but they've always been hosted by the company owner at his house, and a pretty decent picnic to relax at. So, of course we signed up to go to this one.

The picnic was scheduled to start at noon, and everyone was supposed to bring a side dish. So yesterday I slaved away and made a big 9x13 of scalloped potatoes to take, and took great pains to heat it up this morning so it would be good and hot when we arrived at noon.

And I'm so brain fried... here's the picnic in little blips.

We arrived shortly after noon time. The host was on his way home from picking up not one, but TWO kegs of beer. We knew there would probably be alcohol at the picnic, but didn't have any idea it was going to be that open, or that much. I think we were the only ones that didn't constantly have a cup of the stuff in our hands. I was so glad they had bottled water, and Daniel survived on Pepsi. I felt like we were at a slosh party.

The time was getting later and later, and they were just sitting around huffing and puffing on cigarettes and drinking beer. No mention of food, no indication there was even going to be food. And it was SOOOOO HOOOOOOOT. Like, blazing hot. And we were outside. I tried to sit in the shade, but even the shade was miserable. I don't know how the other people could stand it, but I guess if your focus is on the beer, you're probably not thinking about eating or how hot it is.

EVERYONE was smoking. I did't really know these people anyway, but it seemed that we were the only "sane" people there. The company owner, Daniel's boss, and the office manager didn't come. Can't say I blame them. It really irritated me that everyone congratulated me/us on our pregnancy, then didn't bat an eye at sitting right there at the table with me, smoking ciggarette after ciggarette, smoke going every which way, most of the time right at my face no matter where I was sitting. Oh, it was so gross.

And then the language. Oh. my. goodness. Everthing and everyone that was talked about had at least 1 four-letter adjective thrown in the sentence, if not more. I shouldn't be, but I was really appalled. The women (women - not ladies) weren't any better. It bothered me because a: I am a lady, and b: there were little kids there!! It was so disgusting. I heard more bad language in those couple hours today than I think I've heard over my entire lifetime. It was gross. I think if Baby Bremner had been born, I would've packed our stuff up and left within the first 10 minutes.

About 1:30 I was so hungry I was afraid I was going to be sick, so I dug a couple Tbsp. of rice krispies out of my pocketbook that were leftover from Morning Sickness Days and gobbled them down. Shortly after that Daniel (thankfully!!) asked if there was anything to nibble on. The hostess said something to the effect of being so into her beer that she hadn't thought about it. I guess if you're filling yourself with beer and nicotine, you don't have much brain power left to think that your guests might not have had lunch yet. She brought out some chips and I tried to be polite and not eat the whole bowl full in one bite, but they didn't last long.

Finally, about 3-ish the host fired up the grill, and the burgers and hotdogs were done about 4. I had not eaten since my bowl of cereal at 10:00. I don't know what or how those people did it.

As soon as we were done eating I started pestering Daniel to leave, and we left about 5. By that time I had a headache from the cigarette smoke, the heat and I'm sure the fowl language. Not to mention feeling ill from going 4 hours later than planned before eating lunch.

Here's what I'd planned to do today: Go to the picnic, eat, socialize enough to be polite and come home. Then put several pots of tomatoes on to cook; and make and can a bunch of tomato sauce. There has been no way I've been able to even muster up brain power to even begin to think about it. Thus, what I've gotten done today has been: NOTHING. My tomatoes will probably be 1/2 rotten by Monday, but I just do not have it in me to do anything. I might even ask Daniel to make something for supper.

I still feel like everytime I inhale I can smell cigarette smoke. And I pray that the Lord washes all that fowl language right out of my mind and I never think about it.

Morals of the story:

A: DON'T SMOKE AROUND A PREGNANT LADY.

B: DON'T USE FILTHY LANGUAGE AROUND A LADY.

C: When your picnic starts at "NOON" - have the FOOD READY TO EAT AT NOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaaaa, I feel like I need to take a pressure washer to my nose, sinuses and lungs to get the smoke out of me, and then use it on my brain to wash out all the filthy language that went in my ears today. I really do not ever want to be in that kind of situation again. I've already decided that if there's any more company picnics, I will not be attending them unless they are held at the owner's house, or someone's house that I KNOW is of reputable character. These people weren't this bad at the other picnics.

And if you haven't picked up on it yet, we are not drinkers, smokers, or fowl language users. So if you come around here, please refrain from all three. I will think better of you for it.

P.S. Daniel did say on the way home that he's really glad he doesn't work with any of those people on a regular basis. He is a service tech so he spends most of his time on his own. I must say I'm really glad, too. And, another thing, the company owner is a professing Christian, so Daniel really does work for a great company.

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For some reason, all day today (Sunday) I kept thinking "you know, I bet I spelled "foul" the wrong way... Sure 'nuff, I spelled it "fowl". I wasn't talking about bird language, but I'm going to leave it. Yes, I know the difference. Under normal circumstances with my brain firing on all cylinders I would spell it correctly.

8 comments:

Cate said... [Reply to comment]

I just had my first baby in June, and I was always appalled by how many people smoked around me while I was pregnant without even thinking! My husband's extended family was especially bad about it--EVERYONE smoked, and while they weren't purposely blowing it in my face or anything, you couldn't really be anywhere near them without breathing it all in, and I didn't want to expose my baby to that! It's also hard to get away from that kind of thing without seeming rude...I'm sorry the picnic was so awful! It sounds like a disaster.

(I admit...I often use foul language. It's a bad habit. But I DEFINITELY don't use it around people I don't know!)

mint said... [Reply to comment]

Gee! Sounds like picnics I went to with my ex and I DO NOT MISS THAT!

Sally said... [Reply to comment]

I'm sorry you had such a bummer of a day. We had the exact opposite at our picnic yesterday. I hope to blog about it, but I now have peaches to can. I hope your week starts out with you refreshed!

Elizabeth said... [Reply to comment]

I was so amazed when you posted about this on facebook. How on earth do people excuse that kind of behavior? Especially with kids running around? You're a very polite person to not say something and storm off :) I don't know if I'd be as polite, honestly.

I turn down a lot of invitations because I don't like the environment. Of course, my kids are at the most impressionable of ages and I would be so upset if they started mimicking that kind of behavior :(

simple~needs said... [Reply to comment]

i probably wouldnt have even been as patient as you. i probably would have feigned illness and went home( along with my pan of scalloped potatoes). i dont get it when people think they have to have alcohol to make it a party. what is wrong with just some good old friendship and lemonade?/!! it was very rude of them to make everyone wait till 4pm to eat. your right, if the partyis at noon, eat at noon or hey, at least by 1....
you remind me soo much of leslie over at http://sweets-mycountryhome.blogspot.com/
i hate hearing foul language- from anyone.

Meghan said... [Reply to comment]

You hung around longer than I would have especially being pregnant. What poor hosts. We have a few friends who do not drink any alcohol (not that we are guzzling drunks, I prefer pop : ) )and I always make sure there are other alternatives...and hello they could have said eating later but why would you have a get together start around lunch time?! Dumb.


I am a fowl :) language user in the barn-usually I say it in my head and I prefer the phrase fiddlesticks-it's universal. Spelling mistakes are common while pregnant and if any other mistakes come up just blame it on the baby : )

Lucy said... [Reply to comment]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. You can chalk it up to a cultural learning experience, I guess. Yeah, when there is beer-guzzling happening, people lose all consciousness about everything - being proper hostesses, curbing their language, being considerate of other people, etc.

Mama said... [Reply to comment]

Ugg! What a horrible experience! Hope you are sufficiently detoxed by now! Just be glad the baby's hearing isn't developed yet (16 weeks) so you don't have to worry about baby Bremner's first words being of the 4-letter variety! ;)