Day 2: Cookie Chronicles: Wired for Success

(Comment for those of you who read my previous blog, Day 1: 50 Things About Me:  I failed to mention that I happen to LOVE my name now; although people call me Lanie, I still love being called Melanie. "Melanie" is a more uncommon name than most, and that's what makes me love it so.  So no worries; the good name of Melanie lives on!)

It's 2:55 AM, so technically this is Day 2 (even though I'm still awake from Day 1, when my last blog was posted).  I'm usually not awake at 2:55, but tonight I worked at Shakespeare's Pub.  Therefore, my workday (night) began at 8:45 PM and didn't end till 2:40 AM.  Have I mentioned that I love it at Shakespeare's?  All the employees there are friendly and HELPFUL (a welcome change from JCPenney) and the environment is just fun.  Never have I enjoyed closing an establishment more than at Shakespeare's.  Kick all the drunks out and it's time for the sober employees to have a dance party while cleaning up.  By the way, if you've ever been to Shakespeare's, you know that they serve popcorn to every table.  Serve popcorn all day long, and serve it to a bunch of people drinking alcohol, and you're likely to find 30 tons of it on the floor at closing time.  HOW could they ever clean that up?  Easy.  If you've got a leaf blower :)  The bouncers use actual leaf blowers to blow the popcorn/ trash from the back of the pub all the way to the front, where they then scoop it up in shovels/ sweep it up with brooms and call it clean.  Pretty innovative! 

It's not always fun to go to work, even if you like your job.  Today I was okay with going in, but I had no idea what I was in for.

Some background:
a) If you haven't read my previous posts about the "Cookies" (cute guys) at work, please do: the links are HERE and HERE.  The rest of the blog may not make sense unless you educate yourself accordingly.
b) Yesterday, I worked up the nerve to walk directly up to the cookies and ask them to go out for drinks with Ariane, Sarah, and me after work.  Again, bear in mind that I've seen these guys nearly every day for the last 8 months and it's taken me about 7 months to say HELLO to them (no joke!) and 8 months to hold any sort of conversation with them.  Yeah... me.  No joke.  So Ariane, Sarah, and I went to meet them at Brewster's, just down the road from Pfizer.  We arrived to find that only two had been able to show up (it was, after all, pretty late notice, so I wasn't surprised).  The two that showed up were Charlie Brownie and an unnamed (for some reason) Cookie.  I was originally very worried that the get-together might be awkward (after all, we came from two very different groups of employees and had never spoken to each other before).  But Charlie Brownie and Tall Guy (as we'll call him) were very entertaining, very funny, and easy to talk to.  Success!  Somehow we got talking about a guy they work with-- whose description matched that of Green Hat (and if you know me well, you know that Green Hat is my favorite Cookie).  By the way-- I had actually spoken to Green Hat earlier in the week and introduced myself for the first time (a HUGE step for me), and learned his name as well.  They mentioned that Green Hat was not only single, but the absolute nicest guy (albeit incredibly shy) that we'd ever meet.  Turns out he wasn't able to meet us for drinks because he was babysitting his friends' daughters (on a Friday night... how sweet is that?)  I decided I liked him even more.

Fast forward to today-- I'm at Shakespeare's and I get a text from one of my coworkers-- who had done some impressive Facebook stalking and learned that Beardie Boy and the Mohican (see the "Cookie list" in this blog) are not only in relationships, but ENGAGED!!! (Note: their recent actions have suggested otherwise, so this was vitally important, breaking news) 

I was slightly peeved that our dear bearded boy and his not-so-Native-American friend (he told us he's actually Mexican) were suddenly off the "market," if you will.  And I was trying to enjoy my night despite this new information. 

Fast forward an hour or so-- I'm walking to one of my tables and who do I see standing at another table along the way?  MR. GREEN HAT HIMSELF.  Yeah, it seemed too good to be true.  It couldn't possibly be him, could it?  He looked at me and smiled (and I nearly melted, he's so cute) and I told him that I was happy to see him (he was there celebrating a friend's birthday).  I don't think he knew that I worked there (how could he know?) so he was probably more surprised to see me than I was to see him.  Long story short, we actually talked-- had multiple conversations-- and I sucked it up and gave him those 10 magical digits (my phone number) and told him to call me sometime.  He was very happy to talk with me after that (which seems promising, right?)  and even hugged me on his way out and said he'd see me Monday (yeah you will!  Bright and early!). 

Imagine my night.  If you work with me or understand my "Cookie" infatuation, you'll know that I was giddy with delight while working-- I'm sure I walked by him at least 200 times and smiled at him every time I walked by.  A wonderful way to end a nearly-as-wonderful day. 

You know how they say everything happens for a reason?  Tonight was a perfect example.  It never made sense to me that I got called for the job at Shakespeare's... and really, I didn't need the money anymore (not since I've been tutoring, anyway).  What made me decide to accept the job?  I don't know.  But I'm gee-golly-happy I did.  Fact.