Another memory from my time working for Mark (not his real name). You can see my previous memories here and here; you all are making me remember more of the shenanigans Mark used to pull!

Several years ago, Mark moved his family to a new house on a lake and set himself up with a new home office in their bedroom; a side room, sort of an antechamber of the house's primary bedroom. With no real walls separating it from the bedroom proper, only angles, it was actually pretty cool; the desk overlooked the lake but was attached to and only accessible from the bedroom, naturally.

After moving in, Mark called and wanted me to set up a PC in his new home office, understandably. He either left a door key for me or gave me the garage door code (I forget which but doesn't matter). We selected a date and thinking nothing of it, I went there at the agreed upon date and time, a morning after everyone had left for the day.

Using the key/code, I let myself in and recall being pretty impressed by the house. Nice place, with smart decorations and now that I type this, I remember it had super-plushy carpets. Mark had told me where the bedroom was (left side of the house), so I went in, walked through the bedroom, and saw Mark's new desk in his home office, ready for equipping.

I get to work setting up the new PC, doing the usual stuff; unboxed the PC and monitors, this was Windows 7 I recall. I installed his work apps, set up the VPN connection, set up his email; I remember he wanted his work cameras viewable so he could look at the office camera system from home too. So far pretty unexciting and ordinary stuff.

Until his wife walked in.

She was livid I was in her bedroom! I greeted her and said I was sorry, but Mark chose this day and time for me to install the PC, and he gave me a key/code, so I thought he'd have told her!

She didn't care. As far as she (we'll call her Carol) was concerned, I was a trespasser. Nigh, an interloper! I remember being flustered - Mark tended to do that to people - so I shut the PC down and left, apologizing again as she practically kicked me out the front door.

No sooner had I left the neighborhood; Mark calls my cell. Having just been yelled at by his wife, who called him right after I left, he laughed a little but I could tell he felt he messed up by not telling Carol there would be another man in her bedroom that day. He apologized and I laughed a little too, awkwardly. I told him I thought I could do the rest of the PC setup remotely; it was almost done anyway, and he'd just need to turn it on sometime and let me know.

In a way I felt bad for Carol. I mean, it would be pretty unusual for some random guy to be in her bedroom (especially after the house was fully moved into), but still Mark screwed up by not communicating with her! One of Mark's many screw-ups over the years!