Yesterday was one of those days that was just extremely stressful. It was like one thing on top of the next and I felt like I was putting out little fires, one after the next. Nothing legitimately bad happened, of course, but the day was exhausting to say the least. With that being said, I like to think that I handle stress fairly well. I’m not generally the type of person that goes off her rocker when something goes wrong (I won’t mention names, but I know someone……). I am pretty good about taking myself out of the situation and trying to look at the bigger picture, and also I usually can see that it really isn’t a big deal. Will this all matter in a year? Or even next week? Not really. I am prepared for the stress of opening a business, but that’s also easy to say in the calmer moments. In the stressful moments, well I guess it’s important to take a deep breath and solve the issue, step-by-step. Also, about this stressful day- the day in and of itself wasn’t that stressful FOR ME, but it was stressful for Luis, which made it stressful for me. Read on.
A Tale of a Stressful Day
Our story starts last Saturday, when Luis woke up early (but later than I had, since I was up making bagels), so that he could go run a lot of important errands. I was almost out of flour (only 1 bag of 25 kg left), we needed things from Costco, and he needed to go to the machinery distributor to talk to them about what we will need for the shop. Of course, all of these places (except Costco) close at unreasonably early hours so that anyone with another job can’t get there during the week. So he left early (ok, like 10:30 am) Saturday with list in hand, only to get to the first place, find it closed, and realize that oh crap it’s a holiday in Spain! What holiday you ask? I have no idea, something religious, but important enough that everything was closed (except Costco, which again- wasn’t important!). So Luis went from place to place to find them all closed…wasted time.
He told me the flour supplier was closed, but I figured with 25 kilos I would have enough to get me through a week, right? Let’s find out, but spoiler alert: wrong.
So Saturday becomes Sunday, which becomes Monday. Luis works all day at his day job, as he usually does, then RACES home at 6:30 pm (by bus), runs to the apartment, grabs his keys and RUNS out the door with a banana in hand to get to the machinery supplier to talk to them about machinery before they close. All is well, except for the stress.
By Tuesday, I was completely “sold out” for this week, meaning I was completely booked up with orders and had more bagel orders than I have EVER had in the history of Bruja’s Bakery, which means one thing and one thing only…I need flour….and now it’s urgent. Luis and I were trying to figure out ways to get the flour and after talking about it, the best option seemed to be that Luis would go to get me 100 kilos (220 POUNDS) of flour BEFORE he goes to work on Wednesday morning, bring the car back to the apartment, and then take the bus to work. So…that means he was going to go purchase 100 kilos of flour….in a suit……………………….
So let’s fast forward to Wednesday…. Luis gets up at 6:45 am (an hour early), gets ready, puts on his SUIT (makes me laugh haha), and leaves the apartment by 7:45 am to be at the flour supplier by 8:15 when they open. It’s raining, there is a lot of traffic, people drive slowly, there was an accident, people drive even slower.
He arrives later than planned to get the flour. He purchases 100 kilos of flour, but has to load each 25 kilos (over 50 pounds) of flour into the car ALONE because the people at this place don’t do it for you. So he is doing this…in a suit.
He leaves the distributor, heads towards Madrid only to realize he doesn’t have time to take the car home before going to work (especially because he has a presentation to get to), so he leaves the car in a parking garage, goes to the presentation, etc. etc. (This is stressful, because he is paying hour by hour for parking).
Fast-foward to 11 am. I turn on my mixer and it sounds strange, spinning very slowly, and sounds like it’s suffering….I think “oh shit, this is awesome….”. I write to Luis that I think it’s dying but tell him I am giving it time to chill and will try in an hour. I try in an hour and hey! it works! I make a round of dough. Then I take out the dough and put in another round and hey! it won’t turn on! WONDERFUL! So now, Luis has gone to purchase 220 POUNDS OF FLOUR for precisely….no reason! But not only that. Since I depend on my mixer to work, I need it fixed like right now. I told Luis and since he is an absolute angel, he immediately called the repair shop and told them he would bring it in BEFORE lunch, which begins at 2 pm, and this is happening at 1:15 pm. So he races home to get it, but meanwhile I am baking bagels, which means I have bagels in the oven, but I need to take the mixer down to the street because if he comes upstairs to get it, he won’t have time to get to the shop. So I leave the bagels in the oven with 8 minutes left and race downstairs with this 30 pound mixer, but of course…traffic, etc. etc. Luis eventually shows up, grabs the mixer and races off. I run upstairs, oven is beeping, but luckily, I had the sense to put foil over the bagels so while they are cooked through, they aren’t burned, but they are also white as can be.
Now you think this is the end? No. So I have about 5 minutes to race out the door for a meeting with the business advisement office here in Madrid. Its a 30 minute commute by public transport, or a 25 minute walk, so I walk. (Actually, the fresh air really helped).
I pull the bagels out of the oven, quickly make sure everything is off….oven, stove, everything (ain’t nobody got time for a fire!) and RUN to the meeting. Meanwhile, Luis is racing to drop off the mixer and then racing BACK across town to get to this meeting with me (yes, I told him he should go back to work, but he insisted). So eventually we get to the meeting, which was supposed to be a meeting about how to get up to FOUR TOUSAND EUROS in grants from the Madrid govt for opening a new business only to find out….wait for it….. that I am not eligible. To be eligible for this money, you have to be within 3 months of when you registered as a freelancer. Meaning that since I registered a YEAR ago in order to make my business legal, I actually did myself a disservice because I am no longer eligible for FREE MONEY. Don’t get me started on how this policy makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE. So you’re telling me if I come to Spain to teach English classes as a freelancer and do this for 2 years and then decide to open a cheese store, I can’t get free money because I have been a freelancer? You’ve got to be kidding me.
So now Luis has been out for a couple hours…so he races back home (with me), drops the car off, eats lunch in like 10 minutes, and then heads back to work (by bus..finally). Meanwhile, I am trying to make dough by hand for just one person. I mix the dough, knead for about 10 minutes, and then realize…I don’t think I added yeast! So I threw it in the trash and started again and 30 minutes later, I am covered in dough and sore from kneading, but at least it’s done. I have about 20 minutes to quickly eat a snack and then race out the door for a tour (I am finishing up the tours I have on my agenda).
At some point during the tour, Luis gets home, but quickly has to turn around to grab bagels to deliver to the south of Madrid, only to get stuck in 30 minutes of traffic on the way home.
The end.
Are you stressed out?! Me too! Haha, but looking back, everything is fine and everything will be fine. Our mixer SHOULD be fixed today, I now have 100 kilos of flour to get me through at least a month, and I love paying for things out of pocket, so not getting free money is no problem! (Sarcasm).
In all seriousness, none of yesterday’s issues are actually big issues. They were stressful because I was worried about Luis and his work, and it’s frustrating that I really need to depend on him a lot, but that’s ok! What’s the saying, Dad? All that’s well ends well. Right? Right.
