I Swear We are Not All Idiots

I guess I have harped about my love for the US Virgin Islands enough that my secretary and her fiancé are heading to St. John today for a long weekend.

She is so excited about the blue water, the nice people and the good food. Plus she is dying to drive the Jeep on the left hand side of the road.

But what kills me about women is they think men are idiots. She has been running around watering the office plants, laying out files in neat piles with notes attached, and generally making the place man-proof in her absence.

I just noticed the kitchen was scrubbed down and all the coffee cups are clean.

One thing that has helped already is I have automated the phone system with a remote PBX that sorts all calls and faxes and then delivers a call to me wherever I am.

So I am chillin’ in her absences and not worrying about the phones ringing.

What’s for lunch?

14 comments:

TerryC said...

So, of course before you leave on your vacation, you will not insult anyone's intelligence by doing anything extra. You'll just leave everything as though you'd be back in 45 minutes or so.....riiiight.....

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Well...yes.

Jahooni said...

I just left my manager own his own for over a week while I went camping in the High Sierra's (Calif.)with the family. I did the same exact thing... it's a woman thing. You'll respect her for it while she is gone, no doubts.

As for St. John... is it really that Fab? My hubby and I are going to celebrate 10 years next May and we want to go somewhere fabulous. Maybe I should look into there...

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Go to St Croix..one island south. There is more to do and it is just as beautiful. Both are US Territories.

I'm going on my 9th trip to St Croix in 9 days and the 10th in Feb. 2008.

TerryC said...

So, okay, fine, it is a woman thing. I am a complete and total basket case running around like a chicken with my head cut off in the days before we go anywhere.

I clean things that are just fine while I'm around. What? is someone going to inspect my cupboards while I'm gone and grade me on their cleanliness? It makes no sense at all, but I just feel like something's not right when I'm not exhausted for my trip. Once I'm off-island, everything can go to hell in a handbasket, but before that everything should be just so....

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

I do man stuff like stock up on hay for the horses, and cut the grass, pay the bills, grab my koozie and bottle opener.

TerryC said...

I do the grass and the bills. Michael does the koozie and the opener!

Jahooni said...

i am taking it that Terryc is your assistant. Office manager??

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

No...Terryc is my dear friend in St. Croix.

We'll head down to visit her and her husband, and the whole cast of island characters in 9 days.

Her blog is Livin' On St Croix down on my link panel. It's a great read and you'll see why we go there so much.

Now they are livin' the good life in paradise.

Ali said...

SUCH a woman thing to do - most men seem to believe that people should just be able to figure things out. And keep in mind I said "most men" not all men.
I spend the last couple days before I leave setting up my auto-reply, arranging for someone to check all my mail and messages - colour coding the magazines I have in production, leaving sticky notes on everything, and cleaning my whole office.
I would love not to feel I need to do this, but I would spend my entire vacation thinking about it if I didn't.

Liv said...

Yes, it is a girl thing, because as soon as something happens while she's gone, it will be her fault instead of whoever was standing in for her. CYA is the name of the game.

So are the US islands nicer than the BVI? Because the natives were none too friendly when I was on Tortola.

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Liv…I have never been to BVI.

Our first trip to St. Croix was the winter of 2003. Gigi and I were an emergency backup couple the other couples needed to fill a villa. I didn’t want to go because I had been to Aruba twice and didn’t like it. Plus I hated Mexico.

I almost cancelled at the last minute.

I found the island very friendly and undeveloped relative to other warm place I have been.

They use US Currency, speak English and have all the charm of any Caribbean island. The food is fantastic…yes plenty of good wine and stinky cheese and fantastic chefs abound.

We met and continue to be friends with locals all the way from our first trip. Some of the locals are native blacks, and some are native whites, some are from the mainland and have lived on the island a long time.

Like any city such as mine for example, there are areas of crime. That is why I carry a concealed weapon here. Likewise, there are parts of any city or island that will have higher crime.

When I am in St Croix I avoid the projects just like I avoid the projects in Charlotte. Crime sucks where ever you are.

People there don’t beg like in Mexico. I hated that about Mexico.

If you treat the locals in St Croix friendly with a sincere smile then you are light years ahead of most tourists. They will treat you very friendly in return.

Drink all the water you want. It is all good.

I could go on and on. I love the place and the people.

Michael said...

Apparently the local women on St. Croix (those "Baahn hea'") missed this particularly female gene, or at least part of it.

Two of the women from my office were out of town the same week, one of them for 3 weeks. These two share some overlapping duties, so while they were away, others of us had to cover for them.

They did tidy up their own work spaces before leaving, but did nothing to help facilitate anyone else covering their duties while away. Worse, they locked up their desks, including file drawers, so we couldn't get at files we needed while they were gone!

I ended up running around getting duplicates so we could take care of business. (Terry was laughin' cause I actually had to work that week ;)

Michael said...

jahooni/liv - St. John is beautiful, but over-priced, and over-visited. 80% of the island is National Park, which sounds great, except only a small portion of that 80% is easily accessible... and the other 20%, where you have to stay, take your meals, etc. is over-crowded. It used to be very laid-back bohemian, but now its more yuppie. If you like roughin' it a bit, camping at Cinnamon Bay (National Park Campground) or Maho/Concordia Eco-camps are all pretty nice and deep within the park. Chartering a sailboat is also a great way to see St. John.

St. Croix, on the other hand, has everything St. Thomas and St. John have, without the crowds. Our island is nearly 4 times the size of St. Thomas, with the same # of inhabitants, and 1/10th the tourists (even less actually, we get visitors, they get tourists).

We have great beaches (almost any day of the year you can find a beach on St. Croix without another soul on it!) We have 100s of historical ruins - some are museums, some have been incorporated into private homes or rental villas, many are still out in the bush waiting for you to go explore. We have hiking, biking, horse-back riding, sailing, kite-boarding, boating, snorkeling, diving...

We have a world famous wall to dive, the Puerto Rican Trench, the deepest trench in all the worlds oceans, drops off from St. Croix's north shore. You can swim out 100 yards or so from certain beaches and be over a wall that drops 10s of thousands of feet.

As Reggie said, the people here can be the friendliest in the Caribbean. They can have their moments, but a smile, a "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon" is as good as gold.

We also have the best rum in the world ;)

Liv - too bad your BVI trip was bad. We go every year to the BVI Music Fest and love it, but not as much as home. Again, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the fun. You might have encountered the wrong people at the wrong time. Also, island attitudes are not always as we expect. Give St. Croix a shot next time :)

And if you have any questions, give us a shout.