Surprise!

Traipsing into work today I failed to notice one key thing.

I walked into the main room and greeted the secretary and the head of the department who were having an impromptu meeting.  Feeling slightly out of place I quickly stepped my way to the back room where I clock in.  I checked the shared student board, as I waited for the machine to warm up, for any notes my fellow workers might leave for me. All that remained was a schedule for who brings in candy when, a sheet that stated different titles that are also their job (for example: a mother mothers), a creatively designed layout of the office (it looks very similar to clue and we have begun putting together a little copycat game), and a note saying different rules to remember while working there.  I had seen them before so I didn't even spend three seconds looking.

I clocked in and waltzed out of the back ready to face the responsibilities of my day, but truly my mind was on a movie that I am going to see later tonight.  After doing my everyday duties (checking the trash and emptying it, turning off the coffee pots, re-stocking the printer room), I asked the secretary what I could do for her.

Her voice flitted about as she arranged her thoughts into something I could understand and in the midst of this I zoned out.  Not that I didn't hear her, she essentially told me "nothing today", it's just that something else had caught my attention that was far more interesting than the extra unneeded dozen of words.  There was something tickling my hair.

Strange as that may sound, it makes sense.  It was like a breeze was tousling one section of my hair.  As politely as I could while the secretary talked, I tried to lightly brush my bangs out of my face and flip my head so the air wouldn't distract my any more.  Instead, I noticed the increasing annoyance of the continued something in my hair.  Now, thinking it is a leaf, I combed my fingers gently through my unruly hair and I felt it.

Rough, thin and much too small to be a whole leaf, I combed my fingers again through my hair to try and find it and pull it out.  Thinking now that the secretary must have noticed my behavior, I excused myself to try and pull out this leaf in my hair.  Walking over to the trash can she suddenly says three words that scare the life out of me.

"ITS A WASP!"

Then the next sound... the sound of a very angry wasp buzzing right next to my left ear. My life flashed before my eyes and every single moment that I had been stung before rushed to the very front.  Breathing fast I quickly lean way over, praying the wasp will just fall out of my hair.  The buzzing grows louder.  The secretary rushes over and tries to scoop it out of my hair with a sheet of paper. What a sight to see and sound to hear if you had walked in at that moment.

I was leaning way over, head almost touching my knee. The kind secretary was trying to get the wasp out without angering it any more and all the while I am walking away from my left side, thinking in my panic that somehow I could still get away from the evil creature.  She followed diligently as I moved farther and farther from her.  The buzzing only growing louder and louder.  I'm not sure what I spoke, only that it was frantic and probably very high-pitched.  I know the secretary tried to reassure me several times that she was doing her best but the many words floated to deaf ears. I could't focus on anything but my most basic thoughts: get away, get away, get away.

...
Somehow, the wasp flew free and the manly head of the department came strutting in and killed it with one good swat.  I escaped without a sting, but I'm pretty sure I will never be able to run my fingers through my hair again this week without a momentary panic of it being a wasp...