stupidity? fatigue? anxiety? you choose.

So last night, I had a major freak-out after work.

Let me preface this by explaining the dynamic in my office. There are six people employed at my location. Of the six of us, one is an office manager. The other five of us are teachers. Between us, we teach English, Spanish, French, and German. We each have a key to the office. The office manager isn't always there. We each kind of come and go as we please. If we have a class there or we need to take a book, we stop by. Sometimes we have classes there and other times our classes are at a company's office. At any given time, we could all be in the office or you could be alone.

I had never been there alone at night. At one point during my lesson last night, it occurred to me that I was all alone with this man. I got a little nervous until I realized that this scrawny man would be no match for this scrappy Jersey girl.

After he left, I grabbed a few books to take home, checked my e-mails, and then turned off the lights and cleaned up around the place. I set the alarm. I locked the door and walked out to my car. I went to leave the parking lot, only to see that the security gate had been closed and I was the only car left in there (besides the cars owned by the enterprises within the premises). I began to panic. I was locked in! I had a class at a company thirty minutes away at 8 o'clock this morning. How would I get home? How would I get back to my car and to this other company by 8 the next morning?

I began searching for my cell phone only to realize it was dead. This was turning into a nightmare. I felt stranded. I had to park the car, go back into my work, turn the security alarm off, and then use the phone to call my only saving grace - my boyfriend. He couldn't really fathom this scenario as it was only 8:15 in the evening.

Me: (crying, heavily breathing, acting like a total baby) I am locked in my work.
Him: How is that even possible?
Me: They put the security gate up, and I can't get out.
Him: You're kidding, right? (followed by a lot of acronyms like OMG and WTF) Is there a number you can call?
Me: That would mean I have to walk back outside and look.
Him: And your point is? Just go do it. Then, call me back.

At this point, I march outside and search for a number. I call the number and in the worst French possible explain to them my problem. In English, the man on the phone says, "Did you drive your car up to the gate?" I am actually offended by this, because of course I did. Didn't I? At least, I thought I did. "Madam, if you drive your car up to the gate, the sensor will open the gate."

Too embarrassed that I didn't attempt to do this before, I opted not to call my guy back and once again set the alarm, locked the office, and finally made my way home. I charged my phone upon my arrival. I was surprised to see that my guy wasn't home. I received a call not five minutes later. He had borrowed his brother's car and had come to rescue me. He was concerned when he arrived and didn't see the car there. Oops. I guess I should have called him back! But, nice to see he would come save me if I ever get "locked in" my work again. Or was that my only SOS and I wasted it!? Shit.

Moral of the story: I need to take a breather and chill out. Before attempting any obvious resolutions, I jumped right into total freak-out mode and was imagining where I would sleep in the office and if there was anything vegetarian in the fridge.