A Partly Zunny Day

Today I ate a pot pie, berated an AT&T representative, got a present I’ve been wanting for years, and found out another one of my friends has cancer.

I have no doubts that my blog is appropriately titled.

The day started out well. Then I made the huge mistake of calling AT&T to try and clear up a question about my cell phone plan. Long story short, the salesperson at the store where I signed up for the plan told me one thing (also known in many circles as “lying”), and even though this was the case, the manager on the phone didn’t seem to to find this relevant and basically told me to go screw myself.

I have to say, I’m still sort of in shock about this. Why, I don’t know. I should be used to being screwed over by big corporations by now. But I guess this was just so blatant. I think it was the fact that they weren’t even attempting to be sneaky that really scared the hell out of me.

I did at least get a couple of digs in at the end, including telling the woman that I was sorry she had to work for such a crap-ass company and do a job where she was under the illusion that she was helping people. And I’m sorry to say that it provided me with a brief moment of happiness. But still — it was an hour of my life that I’ll never get back.

Photo by Z Pie

All I can say is, thank you Baby Jebus for lunchtime. I met my friend at my new (just found) favorite place on the planet: Z Pie on West Street in downtown Reno. They make individual, gourmet pot pies. So let me just make this clear — you get to eat a whole pot pie. And not feel bad about it. And then even order another one for dessert (which we of course did). I got the Thai chicken (yes, you heard me right, Thai pot pie), and my friend got the Southwestern chicken (who knew beans could be good in pie — but I guess everything’s good in pie).

We got out of there for twenty bucks, plus tip. And we left a decent one because our waiter was adorable. I wanted to take him home with me. A lot of the people who work there are foster kids who’ve aged out of the system, and they’re clearly working hard. Honestly, I haven’t had such good service at a restaurant in a long time.

Happy time part two: my friend brought me a late birthday present. For years I’ve been wanting one of those crazy hooks that you can use to hang your purse off of a table. They’re so cool because they just fold flat into a little coin shape. And they look cute sitting on the edge of the table. It’s debatable whether having a device to keep my purse off the filthy floors of restaurants will help to fuel or quell my latent OCD tendencies that periodically crop up, but that’s an entirely different post.

Photo by PartlySunny

Anyway, my friend gave one to me, and I was ridiculously excited. This was one of those small life moments when you just feel overwhelmingly lucky. When it becomes clear that someone in the world really knows you. And a silly little hook is not just a hook.

And then, in the blink of an eye (or rather, the “bling” of a text message, ironically, on my AT&T cell phone) the woman at AT&T who messed up the whole morning became completely and utterly insignificant. And I basically forgot I’d ever eaten pot pie or owned a purse. Because it turns out my friend has cancer.

Actually, now two of my friends have cancer. Damn it all to hell.

I report all this with hesitation because I really dislike the idea of claiming other people’s problems as my own. Because in all reality, I’m not having to deal with the true suckiness of either of these situations. And therefore no one needs to waste their “I’m so sorry” energy on me. That said, I guess I just needed to get it out because. . . damn.

Damn.

If only every problem could be fixed with a pot pie and a purse hook.