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This entry is going to be written in terms as obtuse as possible, simply because it would be easy to identify the company I work for, and because I was a part of something of questionable legality. I apologize for this in advance; I just need to work out the frustrations of what happened.

Yesterday, the General Manager dropped a bomb on us.

At 3:30pm, he announced that this weekend we were going to be running a shuttle for overflow parking for a local attraction. No problem; we just had to find drivers.

Then he said we were going to need the big buses. Well, only about half of our drivers are certified to drive the larger buses, but we found enough people.

Then we found out that these buses were going to be borrowed. In other words, if we scratched them, we're dead. Ok, so we just have to be careful.

Then we discovered that these buses required a certain certification that only one of us has. I do not have this certification.

Guess what I drove anyway?

When we went to the garage to pick up the buses, the garage manager greeted us. We said we "hadn't driven models exactly like this. Could you show us - um, how to start them?"

I was rather nervous pulling my bus out and getting it back to our garage. I mean, if I got pulled over it would be my ass on the line, not the General Manager's. I figured as long as I didn't hit anything or speed, I would be ok. The bus was pretty cool. I played with the lights and the other stuff that the bus had, and fiddled around with all the switches.

The buses aren't ours, so we had to cover up the logos on the buses with our logos, which took most of the night. That was ok, since I was staying until midnight, anyway, to pick up the Polish people.

When I picked up the Poles, they asked if I could stop at a "metro." I asked them to repeat the question, and realized they were saying "petro."

"A gas station?" I asked.

They all shouted agreement in Polish. I was a bit stumped. Why did they want to go to a gas station? I asked them that very question.

"For food," they said.

Ah. "Would you prefer I take you to a grocery store? I go by one that's open 24 hours."

They liked that idea.

They bought lots of beer and lots of toilet paper, and not much of anything else.

The whole night seemed a bit surreal.

So, I clocked out at 1am last night, and showed up at work again this morning at 7:30am for the shuttle. We put the signs on the buses and waited.

And waited and waited and waited.

After lunch and lots of sitting around napping, we were told that the lot would not fill up, and the overflow parking would not be needed. So I went home. Never did get to shuttle anyone in that bus.

Now I have to go back in to pick up the Poles again - and show up at work again tomorrow morning for the shuttle, part II. This time, however, I don't have to be there until 11:15am.

Thank god. I'm really starting to get sick of that place.

But just think: OVERTIME!

Yeah.