Sunday 11 November 2012

Am I a bitch...

to be somewhat disappointed with people?  Let me start from the beginning.

As you may know, I hosted a Girls Night In this weekend, to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  The daughter-in-law of a very dear friend of mine has gone through this, and in fact her sister is still going through it.  When she found she had it she urged her sister to get checked and the results were positive for her too.  Luckily they both seem to be winning the battle.

Anyway, I decided to do my bit and host a Girls Night In.  I had visions of a group of ladies, having a drink, sharing some laughs, dancing, sharing nibblies, and having a good night.

I even sent out the message to my interstate friends and family, so that people who couldn't come could help the cause by donating online.  But I seriously think there is something wrong with me.

One by one, they all declined.  Initially four ladies said they would come.  One of those dropped out.  One of the attendees invited her mother (luckily).  A couple others sent messages to say they couldn't come.  Most just ignored me.  Including my interstate folk. 

Close to the night a lovely friend donated online in case she couldn't make it.  She and another friend did make the effort, meaning I had six ladies actually attend on the night, and one who stopped by on her way home to make a donation (of $50, thank you very much!).

I had been worrying what to do with 6 raffle prizes (one didn't bother to drop off her promised goods, so I had to go out and buy something small to add to the pool), and only 4 ladies coming.  My Nutrimetics lady dropped off a $60 face cream and some raffle books, telling me to pre-sell them, and offering 10% of sales if I got a few orders.  Luckily this was just before the last rally.  My wonderful support team spent around $70 on raffle tickets and donations, which kick started me off. 

On the night, there was a small enough gathering that everyone had plenty to talk about.  Three ladies won prizes, with the other three going to club members.  Everyone said they had a good night, which is the main thing. 

But what really bothered me was, that from the 144 ladies I invited, only half a dozen turned up, and only a dozen even answered.  Three people donated online, and one of them was me.  Surely it wouldn't have been too much trouble for my interstate friends to donate $5 (not you, SOL, you're excluded from this rant x). 

I set my goal at $300 thinking that with all my friends this would be easily achievable.  Apparently I don't have as many friends as I thought.  I came in under $250 from online donations and raffle sales.  I can't decide if I'm grateful, or hurt that I mean so little to people.  How could I possibly have thought people would actually want to come to something I held, or to support me by donating, anyway?  I am so grateful to the ladies who did (both at the rally and the party).  That meant the world.  But if every one of my friends who could not make it donated, I would have reached well over my goal.

Anyway, enough said on that topic.  I just needed to get it off my chest.  Note to self - no more parties or gatherings of ANY kind, cause people just don't care enough to come. 

In other news, I had the interstate boss in town last week.  He brought his Toyota Prado and trailer over, with the view of taking back archive boxes (and helping to clear some space in my office).  He arrived Monday afternoon, and we killed a couple hours chatting while I was doing some work.

Tuesday morning my local boss went to a Melbourne Cup luncheon, and wouldn't be back for the rest of the day.  Sydney boss took me to lunch.  We were still eating and just on our second round of drinks (juice, thank you!) when he got a call.  He was obviously distressed, and I knew the news wasn't good.

While on the phone, we left the restaurant, he paid with one had, and we raced back to the car.  In a break between calls he told me that there had been an explosion back at the site in Sydney.  Turns out they had been venting a tanker trailer, and without following certain safety procedures (from the look of it), they had brought it back inside and started working on it.  Vapours have then ignited when a forklift drove by and the young fellow working on it was badly burned from a flash fire.  Luckily a nurse working near by ran up and immediately put the hose on him to cool his burns.

Needless to say, boss was distraught.  He continued to make calls, and in fact I made him pull over and finish a call or the police would have pulled him up for sure. 

We raced back to the office in record time.  He packed up his gear, booked a flight (with me standing over his shoulder reminding him to click here, click that etc).  Back to the motel to check out, and back to pick me up. 

He drove to the airport and told me to just take the car and use it.  He would rather it be driven.  So I drove it back to the office.   When I phoned him later he said to just keep driving it.  So  I have had it all week.  My little Shazza is still parked at work...

No word yet on when he'll be back but I suspect probably Monday or Tuesday.  The fellow who got burned is in the burns unit with burns to his nose, ears, and exposed skin on his arms and legs.

The irony?  He was going to be let go next week.  I think that added to boss's distress.  The guilt factor.  When I spoke to him on the Wednesday he thanked me.  What on earth for?  I had felt like a spare dick - totally helpless and unable to do anything.  No, he said, I kept him grounded.  Must have been all the idle chat I kept him tied up with on the way to the airport, and all the "Rocket, deep breath" I kept saying.

So, anyway, it's been a rather stressful week, with the party to worry about and how everyone in Sydney was faring.  They are like a family over there.  I have worked closely with them for the last five years, and have met a few of them too, so I feel like I know them all very well.  It's been very distressing for them to the point they had counselors in over the weekend to speak to them all.

Well, not much else worth rabbiting on about.  Thanks for letting me rant.  I promise to be more positive next time.

3 comments:

SOL's view said...

Exciting stuff hey. Hope the young fellow is alright and Rocket recovers his aplomb too. :)

sparklingmerlot said...

It's not about you. It's about society and charity and stuff.

Sorry to hear about the young lad getting burned. Much as I find OH&S a boring subject there is a reason for it. Hope he isn't too damaged.

JoeinVegas said...

We had a big picnic planned, a dozen people said they would show, and on the day only one couple came. Lots of food, but kind of strange. I guess people just don't do commitments any more, too many things to do for everyone.