K is for Keychain

Oh, boy, I’ve been waiting for this one! I have a “spooky” story for you today:

I’ve mentioned before that I really enjoyed my last assignment, researching and creating an internal website for a big pharma/big corporate entity. I can’t say how much I enjoyed it. My contract was extended at least four times, as I stayed on to support the site and create different branches of it. I am now continually applying to new postings, and trying to stay positive that those who mentioned they would keep throwing their support my way will come through.

I’ve been contracting for a long time. I try not to get very attached to a place or people when I’m on assignment. I bring very little from home, usually a few snacks and a little bag of toiletries, so that when I leave with whatever portfolio-related paperwork I’m taking, my paraphernalia will fit in a small box or tote bag.

This time, wow. I haven’t had that much stuff to take home since my advertising and publishing days at permanent jobs that lasted years. The only thing that lived on my desk was my little desktop aquarium. The drawers, however, were filled with stuff. I had collected some promotional gear (not the crappy stuff), there were books from book club, my shoes, snacks and toiletries, and then there was all the stuff I bought.

Every day, vendors would come to sell their wares. And I bought! And bought, and bought. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done, and most of my buys went right home, however,  more than I expected stayed at the office (foodstuffs, Tupperware, all kinds of goodies)

My last day of work was a Friday, so all that week I took stuff home. Yet, I still had a small shopping bag at the end of the day on Friday, in addition to my  laptop bag and purse. One of the awesome giveaways I had was a keychain with an LED light and the company logo, and that lived happily on my car and house keys, not even warranting a thought in this moment.

As I walked away from my desk, with my coat on, keys in pocket, purse and empty laptop bag on one shoulder, I decided it would be best (I was teary, and some of my friends that sat nearby were too, so I just wanted to walk away once) to return my badge, parking pass, laptop and battery to my boss on the way out. So, I grabbed all that in one arm, and had the aforementioned three bags on the other.

I placed the equipment on my boss’s desk, and he walked me out, taking the small shopping bag for me, so I wasn’t walking out like Uncle Traveling Matt (I’d love to hear your comments if you get the reference!). As we made our way down the hall, we heard something fall. It was a key ring, just the metal ‘O’, and I was sure that it was the one I had only just clipped to my laptop bag after taking my ID token and badge off of it while I was still at my desk. It was one of the last things I did. My boss picks it up, and we continue. When I get to the car and beep the alarm, I notice my company keychain is missing. A quick scan of the ground doesn’t yield it, and I shove my hand in my coat pocket, before doing a better search. Good, there it is, in my pocket.

Wait a minute, it snapped clear off the keyring, and the keyring snapped right off the set!!

It’s a metal keychain! Not my goofy foam flip-flop that is always falling off! This keyring is the one that dropped off in the hallway, not the now-empty one I had just taken off my badge, which is still clipped to the laptop bag! How could this just fall off? I’ve had two metal keychains on my keys since I was a teenager, yet this one only lasted a few months before snapping off? It is almost as if the company “gods” were saying to me that, since I no longer worked there, I couldn’t brandish their logo!

Spoo-oo-ky!