More frequently than not, my work day consists of abutting, or even overlapping meetings. This is the unhappy consequence of the group I manage being involved in nearly EVERY project at our company. Even delegating or ignoring most meetings, there are some I just can't avoid.
Thursday was one such morning. While I was already late for one overlapping meeting, I just KNEW I would die during the meeting if I didn't have my morning caffeine. Usually, I grab this on the way to work, but on this particular day, traffic prevented that, and I didn't worry too much about it since I actually had a dollar bill and some change! (Rare)
So, I decided to make a run for the soda machine, located on the lower floor of my building. Now, when I say "run", I really mean "rushing as fast as I can without actually running." So basically, I looked like one of those olympic power walkers STRIDING with great purpose towards the stairs...at a very high non-running velocity.
I was moving.
Now, the hall where the stairs are located have a pair of glass doors between the office area and the stairs. Our cleaning crew keeps these SO clean, that you often can't even tell that there is glass IN the doors at all! I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I couldn't tell the doors were there and I ran right into the glass.
You would be wrong.
I didn't do that at all! No, obviously, I knew the doors (and glass) were there. I'm an intelligent adult. That's why I'm invited to all of the meetings! Duh! No, what happened is that as I strode towards the doors at my olympic walking pace, I reached for the handle - which must be turned to open the door (no simple pushing doors for a area full of engineers) - and....
I missed the handle. Uh oh.
Well, if you've ever had physics or studied the laws of motion on your free time, you know what happened next. Momentum being what it is (p = mv) and the rule that objects in motion tend to stay in motion dictated my next action:
I ran right into the glass door, nearly crumpling under the impact.
I heard a smattering of laughter, some polite applause, and one person even cared enough to mutter "impressive." Oh yeah, I'm smooth.
Door 1, Gregg 0.
On the upside, when I returned to the same set of doors, soda in hand, a number of people offered to get the door for me!
