Preparing, Not Scaring

There has been a spate of articles in the newspaper this week about H1N1 flu which prompted me to ask the boss at a meeting on Tuesday if we had a pandemic plan.

Dumb question: of course not.

With his approval, I leapt in feet first and ended up, over the course of 2.5 days, writing a 7-page pandemic plan. I interviewed every staff member, incorporating their thoughts and comments into the draft, I called around the city to find N95 respirator masks and liquid hand sanitizer, and have prepared for two scenarios: the absence of key staff members, and complete quarantine. I even interviewed the boss and got him to shed light on a few of his key responsibilities lest he leave us more unexpectedly than we want. Several of the staffers seemed a bit alarmed that such a thing could actually happen, but I assured them the plan is there not to scare, but to prepare.

I hope to present my report to our staff next week.

In the meantime, the boss took off and left me in charge (scary thought). The level of "bizarre" around the office went down only slightly with the boss' absence; the new guy seemed to fill in the gaps under the weird category, regaling us with stories about his youth wearing football pants, Christmas temper tantrums and asking for electronic assistance every few hours.

I'm glad it is now "my" weekend. A friend I recently had dinner with contacted me yesterday and asked if I might like to see a movie with him; I think he's lonely being on his own right now, and for me, he's stepping in for a friend recently moved south. I look forward to the time with him.