Tuesday's Gone

Four weeks ago, on a Monday night, I shut the TV off in my living room and went to bed around 11. It was like any other Monday night.

And when I woke up the next day, it was Wednesday.

I didn't even realize it was Wednesday until I'd been on the clock for over an hour at work. I made my way to the conference room at 10:30, just like I always did on Tuesdays.

When I walked in and sat down no one else was in the room. Normally, I was the last one in for the meetings, as I drag my feet a lot and don't really see the point of "go-getting" at my job. I thought they were getting ready to fire me anyway. In six weeks up to that point I hadn't hit my sales quota.

After several minutes I finally left the conference room and walked to my manager's office. He was sitting in his chair, eyes fixed on his computer monitor.

"Hey, Steve!" I said to my boss as he looked up. "Are we having the Tuesday meeting or what?"

Steve stared at me from over his monitor for a few moments. "What the hell are you talking about, Mike?" He finally asked back.

I looked at him confused. "It's 10:30, on a Tuesday..."

"It's Wednesday. Get back to your desk," and Steve went back to what he was doing on his computer.

I stood there in his office for a moment as I struggled to remember the day before. I went back to my desk and tried to piece together my Tuesday.

I didn't remember a single thing about it. Nothing regarding work or what I did when I got home.

The lost Tuesday didn't really affect me all that much the rest of the day. I absent minded went through the Hardee's drive thru for Taco Tuesday, and had to pay full price because I forgot it was Wednesday.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I hung out with friends, my buddy Brian had a birthday. I almost didn't go but I at least managed to make an appearance at his house.

He told me he was getting married. Jesus, I never pegged him for a guy to settle down. It's funny where the time goes when it's least expected.

We sang some karaoke and my friend Naomi showed up, too. I'd asked her to come, she just made everything...better. We're just friends, but I keep a picture of the two of us together on my desk. It gets me through my rough days at work.

That Wednesday was the best night of my week, though I still couldn't remember Tuesday.

Otherwise I went through the rest of my work week, which resulted in more goose eggs under my sales quota. I didn't get a single lead, let alone a sale, and Steve started giving me the evil eye when I saw him around the office. I started taking longer lunches to avoid him and my coworkers. Otherwise I played video games when I got home and looked for a used car online, my Kia Soul was giving me problems.

The following Monday I had the shift from hell. I ended up late to work and Steve dressed me down in front of everyone. He spent part of the morning pulling my performance numbers from the past two months. He printed them out and read them off in front of all of them. That shook me so hard I couldn't even make a call until lunch.

I forced enough enthusiasm the rest of the day to make my dial quota, at the very least. When I got home I told Naomi about it and she suggested looking for another job. She wasn't wrong, but here I am in my 30s and I can't even hold a phone sales job at this point.

The rest of that Monday night was uneventful. I made myself a TV dinner, played some video games, watched TV, and went to sleep at 11p.m.

And the next day, it was Wednesday.