Mercury Retrograde: The Fuckery Continues

Wow, folks. This retrograde has been a rough ride for many of us. Here are a few stories to help you remember that this transit doesn't just affect you but all of us.

I started out the weekend reading cards at the shop, and then having a reading last night, and plans with a friend this morning. The shop was fine, but the other two didn't happen...one cancelled the day before, the other an hour before. 

People also seem to be having technical problems with Facebook, and I had one paper-related freak out and had to reschedule eye doctor appointments because we were double booked. D'OH!

I have a work-related story that just takes the cake for Mercury retrograde fuckery. I'm going to see if I can piece it all together for you. We'll put this under the category of "meeting fuckery."

I had a meeting with my whole work unit, our department head, and her deputy. Here's how it went.

• Meeting scheduled. One portion of team works at offsite, other works at home office, so meeting would be accomplished via video teleconference. Two groups, two rooms. 

• Two days later, meeting postponed for one week due to Deputy being out.

• The next day, it was decided not to wait a week. Meeting rescheduled for the next day in that same week; deputy's deputy will attend in her (deputy's) stead. 

• Department head works at offsite most days, but cannot make meeting at offsite because of commitments at home office. Wants to reschedule.

• Less than 30 minutes later, department head realizes that she can attend meeting, but will do so from home office and not from offsite due to other meetings. Original date and time is kept. 

• Deputy's deputy, who works at home office, plans to attend meeting at offsite location instead of at home office to attend in person with department head.

• Department head says she will now attend from offsite, since other meetings at home office were cancelled.

• Deputy's deputy decides to stay at home office because he thought boss was going to be there, but since it may be too late to arrive at offsite to make the meeting, decides to attend from home office.

The question is, "Did the meeting occur?" Yes, but it started 20 minutes late due to...wait for it...the fact that the home office hadn't told us what conference room they would be in. D'OH!

Once we made a series of phone calls and found out where they were, we connected successfully and had no technical problems with the communication. The jury is still out on whether or not anything was accomplished; that remains to be seen. 

Mercury, however, could not let us off the hook that easily. The meeting went 1/2 hour over its allotted time; thankfully the people who had scheduled the room both before and after us never showed up.

I know someone has a story that can top mine. Please write in and let me know and I'll share. 

Hang in there, folks. Only a few more weeks. We're in the clear by July 9.