"You're here early!"

Warning – work vent! As much as I love my job, I have many vents. I am impatient and haven't read 'Don't Sweat the Small Stuff' yet, so here's a work vent  …

My kid is in junior high now and gets herself to & from school. The earlier I get to work, the earlier I leave. I've been on Princess hours for the past 10 years, but I'm tryin to get my ass in gear because I want my pre-teen that looks 16 to have as little unsupervised time after school as possible. It's been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, and have actually been getting to work as much as an hour earlier than what I'm used to. And this has been going on since school went back in mid-August. So why the hell does the Consultant sitting across from me still make the same damn comment - "oh, you're here early?!" - questioning me with surprise. My hours of operation are none of her damn business. Even when she sees me at, let's say 7:55, and I've been here since 7:15, walked past her office, and had conversations with people within ear-shot of her, she says "oh, you're here early!" WTF? This may not seem that significant, enough to even warrant more than an eye-rolling let alone a full blog post, but every freaking time I hear "Oh, you're here early" I want to smack her face, or at least add her to the list of people whose faces I want to smack in the office (my list only has 1 or 2 people on it at any given time, I add & remove people depending on my mood). Here's why the Consultant is permanently on my list now with no hope for redemption: A couple of weeks ago, she brown-nosed to our supervisor by writing a manual to train new people in our department and set up a meeting for the training. I've had this job for a long time and don't require training, but I wanted to sit in the meeting because these new people would be working along side me. Why didn't I write the manual you ask ... well because I am uneducated. I'm good at what I do because I've had enough lucky breaks in the industry and lots of time to train myself. Also, my head can wrap itself around what I do with ease because I'm not a stupid person. Or I just naturally have a knack for it like some people have a knack for … let's say house cleaning or hitting a golf ball with a club every time they take a swing. I don't need to be a leader, a teacher, or even know off the top of my head if a credit has a negative sign in front of it because I’m a problem solver and that’s what my job takes. And people like Work-Stacy. A lot. Anyway, a few minutes after the meeting ended, the Consultant comes past my office and says, "Oh you're in!” Then she says, “You missed the meeting." I can literally see myself getting up at this point and wrapping a hand around her neck to hold her still so I can slap her face. Funny though, her view was so much different than mine. My interpretation was that I didn't MISS the meeting - I wasn't invited to the damn meeting. No e-mail, no phone call, no sticky note on my computer screen .... And, AND it was 9:30 at this point. Of course I was fucking in! She then tells me she called the meeting for 8am. Well, that's even funnier because I was in at 7:15 and I know she was sitting in her office when our boss came in and said nice n' loud when she saw me "Good morning STACY". And even if she is that deaf & blind, if she still assumes that I come in AFTER 8am, why the hell would she call a meeting that she knew I wanted to attend for 8am? So I would miss it anyway? So the higher ups would potentially see me missing it or coming in late? Not that this hasn’t happened before. About 2 years ago, still very much on Princess hours, not only did I come in to work 45 minutes late, I was 15 minutes late for a meeting that was being headed by a higher-up. That's not the worst of it .. because I was running so late, I threw on the only clothes I could grab at the foot of my bed - a pair of black cargo khaki's, my favorite tight little black & pink Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirt, a hoodie, and a pair or runners. Yep, I just strolled in that meeting in the board room of our corporate office, sat across from the manager, smiled a good morning, and when the meeting was done, I walked with her back to her office as we talked about our weekends! See how I can love my job as much as I say I do … I know how & why the Consultant wants to work for this company, or even wants my job. I know she can’t take it from me, but she can sure weasel her way to a window office beside me. The Consultant doesn't intimidate me, doesn't pose a threat to me, she just pisses me the hell off.