(Scene: A rainy Tuesday. Some work days are just harder to get through than usual, albeit due to lack of sleep, weather, or workload)
K: I’ve fallen asleep twice today while putting together a presentation for tomorrow. What’s funny is that I do the same quality of work whether I’m sleeping or awake. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…
DT: I think it’s totally a good thing. It just means that you are working to your full potential even when sleeping! I cannot say the same for myself. I have also fallen asleep at my desk twice today (once for about 35 minutes and later for about another 30). As a consequence, I’m trying to be uber productive so that my boss doesn’t realize that I missed out on that much time in my work day… I think it’s going pretty well so far.
K: Do you sit at a cubical or are you in an open environment? It’s not like your boss can see you sleeping, right?
DT: Well, he probably should. It’s like half a cube with a walkway that is completely open behind me. He sits right next to me and the walkway goes right to his desk on the end. I think it’s my super sleeping powers that help disguise me.
K: Sleeping while sitting up?
DT: Of course! Hand on mouse, head upright, the works. I’m pretty much a pro. You?
K: Head jerk, one eye partially open, violent leg twitch. Basically, I look like I’m having a stroke, which is NOT obvious AT ALL.
DT: Yeah, that’s a little rough. That’s still much better than would usually happen to me in college. I think there was more sense of comfort when falling asleep in class (partially because I slept through high school, partially because my brain would very clearly shut down as a self-defense mechanism). There was one time in particular (which I may have told you about before) in Diff EQ that didn’t go very well. The classroom had stadium seating and the bright yellow rounded plastic seats with the little fold-over desktops. I was sitting next to my roommate and passed out almost to the point of drooling. As I subconsciously realized I was about to drool in the middle of class (which, in reality, was a common occurrence; it shouldn’t have bothered me) I tried to force my body awake. My body fought back and I ended sliding out of my chair and onto the floor of the aisle I was in (which was clearly visible to the entire classroom). To make this scene even more obnoxious, my chin hit the desk as I was sliding under it and produced a pretty loud crack. I was really too confused to realized what had happened but my roommate (who was laughing so hard she was crying) pulled me up and guided me back into my seat. The saving grace was that the professor was a cool guy. He made a funny quip (which I can’t remember at the moment) and carried on with the lecture. After class he made sure to check and see if I was all right (I informed him only my pride was damaged). Most of the time when I fell asleep in class I just ended up with my face on the desk and the earring in my right ear would get caught in the spiral of my notebook so I had to be careful picking my head back up or the notebook would come too.
K: Yeah, a little bit of the “head jerk” doesn’t even compare to actually falling out of a desk during lecture. I really wish they made a caffeine patch…I’d wear that all the time in an attempt to stay awake. Or maybe I should just go to bed earlier.
(While it’s difficult to get through many a boring day here in corporate America, at least emailing with good friends can help time pass more quickly. End scene.)
Our Father's Mustache 