My dad was in the city for business on Monday and treated me to lunch. I never realize how much I miss my family until I see them. We met at an Italian restaurant not far from the office and my dad already had a table by the time I got there. When I spotted him sitting there in his slick navy suit I nearly cried. I haven’t seen my parents since Christmas and it has been way too long.
In some ways my mom and dad are polar opposites. He is in charge of the entire financial department for a Fortune 500 energy company so he makes like, a ton of money. He’s very business-minded. It’s all work, work, work with him even on holidays and weekends. I don’t blame him – working hard is how he got to where he is now. Even though he brings home enough money per year to buy a small jet, he is still very humble. He drives a Honda, buys his suits from Dillard’s and gets excited about free samples at the grocery store.
My mother, on the other hand, drives a super unnecessary white BMW X5, has a personal shopper who buys groceries for the house, and has an average of fourteen credit cards at any given moment. She was a practicing therapist for several years before starting a cupcake business with a friend. She never went back to therapy and relies on the profits from her cupcake shop (and my dad’s money) to support her extravagant lifestyle.
They met in college and bonded over their love of food. My mom says they would go out to eat six days a week which honestly sounds really awesome. Except now my mom isn’t a very good cook. They got married as soon as they graduated and found out they were pregnant with me on the first day of their honeymoon. They obviously love each other and get along great, but sometimes I feel like my dad wishes he would have married someone else.
I’m the perfect mix of them both.
“Hi Daddy!” I greeted him.
He stood up and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe. I needed that hug though.
“You look amazing, pumpkin,” he said, kissing me on the cheek.
I’ve told my dad nine billion times not to call me “pumpkin.” It insinuates that either a) I’m big and round like a pumpkin or b) I overdid it with the self tanner and am the shade of a pumpkin. Both of which are unacceptable and downright mean.
“Thank you. I’ve been working out and stuff. I even ran a 5K!” I told him as we sat down. The “working out” part was obviously a lie, but whatever.
“Good for you! And you ran the entire thing?”
I nodded. “Of course. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“That’s mighty impressive, doll. The Reese I know would’ve had a horse and carriage take her to the finish line.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, but couldn’t help thinking that was a great idea. Next time.
We ordered small plates and talked about my mom and other family back home. Mom is up to her old tricks, maxing out the credit card and hoarding expensive, vintage furniture. In her defense though, our house does look like a grand, french provincial estate. It was even photographed for a local magazine a couple years ago.
All of my grandparents are retired except my maternal grandmother who owns and manages a highly successful high rise apartment complex downtown. We are convinced she will never retire. Daddy says they are all doing great except missing me tremendously (who wouldn’t?).
Catching up with my dad was fun and I was sad when we both had to go back to work. He made me promise to make a trip home soon and I told him I would.
When I got back to the office, I started chatting with Aron outside the break room. Since I had him alone I decided to casually mention the whole Whitney/Amanda thing and find out his involvement. He assured me that he didn’t tell Amanda anything about me and I believed him.
“Between you and me,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Amanda is talking to BJ again. She told him that you caused a bunch of drama in the office and he said you’re a high schooler stuck in a 24 year old’s body.”
I saw red. I really didn’t think that I cared about the opinions of those peasants but that really pissed me off. How was I causing drama? What lie did she tell BJ to make him think I’m some immature drama queen? And why would Amanda be stupid enough to get back in contact with him after all he did to her? Ugh.
I thanked Aron for the information even though I wished he hadn’t told me. There was no way I wasn’t going to confront Amanda now.
Unlucky for her, I caught her walking past my office later that afternoon.
“Amanda!” I called after her sweetly. “A quick word?”
She turned and looked at me curiously then walked into my office.
“How’s your day going?” I asked in my best sorority girl voice.
“Good,” she smiled. “Whitney is letting me write the blog posts for next week so that’s what I was working on.”
“Nice. Blogging is fun, right?”
She nodded.
“Just really quickly,” I said, getting into it. “People have been telling me that you’re saying things about me – inappropriate things – and I wanted to address it before it goes too far.”
I had barely finished the sentence when she said, “I haven’t said anything about you,” and crossed her arms defensively.
“Okay… But I do think you must have said something to make people think you were talking negatively about me.”
“No I didn’t. I haven’t said a word about you,” she said defiantly.
The little bitch was bold. I definitely expected to just say a few words and scare her out of my office, but she wasn’t backing down.
“Whatever you say, Amanda. Just know that if I hear anything else, I’m going directly to Tracey so she can handle it.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Oh so is Tracey actually disciplining people for their actions now?”
For a moment I didn’t know where she was going with this then I caught her drift. I hadn’t been fired over the BJ incident.
“Yes she is. So continue talking if you want to be sent back to school with a bad recommendation.”
Amanda smiled and said, “Okay, Reese.”
Even though she looked angelic in her Lilly Pulitzer shift dress and matching turquoise headband, I wanted to snatch her hair out.
“Have a nice day,” I said and watched her walk out.
—
note: thanks for the recent comments everyone. most of y’all are so sweet and I appreciate it. 🙂 I’m going to be adding a FAQ page to this blog this week or next to address some of the questions I’ve been getting. if you have any you think should be added, email or tweet me. or leave it as a comment obviously. bye!
hotmessinhighheels@gmail.com
twitter.com/hotmessReese
hot mess in high heels. 
I love your blog! But I would like to comment on your snide comment about Amanda, saying is very offensive and I don’t believe you should be publishing it on your blog..
why
It’s kinda like saying the N word, just the C word is degoratory towards woman. I’m not anti cussing or nothing, just that word is a little too far. Just something for consideration not a judgment
oh okay, I never thought of it like that. I deleted it. oopsies.
Haha its OK! And thank you very sweet of you
I don’t know about confronting Amanda like that. It needed to be done but maybe there was a better way. Office gossip sucks and is best to not get involved. May I ask why you haven’t been back home in close to eight months? That seems like an awful long time to not see your family.
I have a question and hope you don’t take offense. You were into Brady from the beginning and want to be with him. I can’t understand why you would have sex with bj, if we can even call it that, when you’re into someone else.
well I thought the “confrontation” would go differently. what do you think I should’ve done? I tried not to get involved but I feel like I was dragged into it.
I don’t like to go home.
I was into Brady sure, but it was kind of like BJ was already there. Brady didn’t show much interest in me so I didn’t think anything would happen.
Thanks for responding. Amanda has a lot of spunk and usually interns know to respect others especially those in higher positions. I understand expecting it to go differently. Maybe you could’ve talked to her manager? Hindsight is 20/20. I’m not judging. I’m worried that she might escalate the drama because she seems like the type that doesn’t care.
Thanks for clarifying about bj and Brady. That makes sense. I was curious. Sometimes going home is stressful and we avoid it. I know I have. However, your family loves you and sometimes you need or things in the past and go see them for a day or two. Life’s short. You don’t want ti have regrets.
I could’ve done that but I was so mad that I just took matters into my own hands. probably gonna backfire.
Amanda is one of those girls who has never been the center of anything and gets her attention from others by spreading gossip and drama.
I would have confronted her too. I would snag Tracy’s ear before something gets brought up to her about Amanda’s loose lips. A lot of times workplace issues can be nipped in the bud by one well placed conversation with the person who has the “power” to do something.
Your dad sounds like a great dad! 🙂 I’ve always thought great dads help their daughters choose good men because of their example. Sounds like you have a good one.
aww thank you so much! you’re so sweet. my dad is so amazing.
I agree with Katy B, you should talk to Tracy before Amanda gets the brilliant idea of causing more drama/spreading lies.
But I also suggest doing it in a careful diplomatic manner. Maybe even asking for advice on the matter to someone in a higher position who has a sympathetic ear? Like a mentor, if you have one (I know some companies do the mentor program but not sure of yours).
Seeing as this is probably the first time you had a subordinate (I think?) it might be a good idea to reach out to someone and say like “…having interns has been a great learning experience for me but I feel like there are some areas that I can benefit by improving on how to handle certain situations. Like how to motivate someone who is doing their best to give an extra 10% without burning them out or worst, discouraging. Or how to discipline someone who has the tendency to create office drama.”
You know, putting it in general terms and also mixing in some positives with negatives but keeping it in a positive light throughout.
You can go into a bit more detail on the situations you would like to know how to approach more delicately, but keeping it a bit transparent so the person has an idea of what you may be dealing with without knowing all the details (just a precaution in case things escalate someone who is in a higher position can then be doubtful of what he/she hears).
Anyways, that’s just what I think and I hope you get that Amanda situation squared out! (good thing she’s just a summer intern, you can look forward to when she has to leave)
thank you for this. I’m still considering what to do because I would actually rather not go to Tracey.. I just feel like I’ll look immature being involved with drama with her.
The relationship you have with your dad is so cute. I hope that my dad and I (who are pretty close as it is) get to be more like that once I graduate. As for not wanting to go home, I totally understand how you feel.
Oh and Amanda is such a bitch, if I were you, just say something simple to Tracey and then (try to) be done with it. The summer will be over soon and she’ll be gone!
When I first started reading your blog, I thought it was completely fictional. Until I read the comments and realized I was totally wrong. To be honest, when I was reading only the blog contents and not any of the comments, I felt like Reese (as in character in story) was a bit immature and very… full of drama, typical party girl you see in college. I found her entertaining, a bit entitled, a bit contradicting (but honestly, who isn’t? It made the character more real to me), but not entirely likable.
However, after reading your comments I found you to be more mature than the story portrays. I like how you handle the negative comments in a calm, mature manner. Not letting them faze you, and even agreeing to some points of them and taking them in a constructive manner.
Now I find Reese in the stories to be more likable, and look forward to any and all comments that you leave.
Life is a learning and growing process, but it’s not something people do so openly in front of the whole word to see (and I say whole world because, I’m actually in Asia) and I find you very brave for doing so. Thank you for sharing your story, and good luck with Brady! 😉
thank you so much! 🙂 I definitely have some growing and maturing still to do and I acknowledge that. I like to see what people have to say about me because usually it’s things I can’t see about myself…so it helps.
These people commenting are so uptight. You’re hilarious and that is mainly because you don’t have much of a filter. Say what you want to say. It is what makes this blog so great. Be yourself.
I agree!
this blog is definitely not for everyone. 😁
Totally agree.
Your blog is frickin hilarious.
Cannot understand ppl who go on blogs and try to ‘improve’ the author. Pure BS
So hoping things with Brody go well!!
Right! Assholes man.
I need to do a better job of coming to your page and commenting when these are posted. Because I get them via email, I just read them there and tend wait until later to like all the posts at once and comment completely after the fact lol. But I will be sure to check out the FAQ page 🙂