My Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

My Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 

 

Written By Landon Olson 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rex, the neighbors’ fat dog, crashed into my garbage can just as I 
collected it up on my morning trudge to the curb. It seemed that the 
moment he hit the cans, he was back in my neighbors' house. Smiling at 
me, taunting me to go get him, but I couldn’t, my neighbor was Ebenezer 
Scrooge, just as mean, dirty, and old as the real one in the movies, 
possibly even scarier. 

 
  
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So, I went on with my day. I picked up the garbage and took it to 
the curb, all while that fat dog watched me like I was a toy. Knowing that 
I couldn’t get him, I ambled inside and finished my 
morning-off-of-work-day. I vacuumed my floor, and I washed the dishes. 
You know the grown-up stuff. When I finished that, I lied down and 
glared at the TV for the rest of my morning, actually, too late in my 
morning. 

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

I lied there so long and forgot about the time that I didn’t know I 
had to work today or any other day. Then the news came on and I saw 
the clock in the bottom hand corner of the screen. I was late for work, 
late for work before I even got in my car. And the drive to work is ten 
minutes, not in a rush hour, right now is the time that trumps all rush 
hours, lunch hours. So, I was off like the wind, rushing through the 
doorway and into my car in a hundredth of a second. Got out of my 
driveway and into the street, putting my foot in the carburetor the whole 
time. 

  
 

 
 
 

Not long after that, I heard a BOOM and a CRASH! At that moment, 

I knew something had gone wrong. And it did. I spiraled out of control 

and rammed into the ditch embankment with a heart of fear and a face 

of stone. Never moving. Then I realized what had happened, I had 

crashed my car. How was I getting to work, how was I going to tell my 

mom, my dad, that fat dog across the street? Will I ever know? 

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Somehow I did, just as that happened, my frightened boss drove 
by, asking if I needed a ride. I thought that this was something straight 
out of a Disney movie, then remembered, this is my boss, not always 
forgiving. What is going to happen to me if I get in that car, will he think 
I’m late because of this, or get mad at me for crashing. Turned out he 
was late too, with my luck, as you could tell, I didn’t think that this was 
possible. Then, he invited me to his office as we pulled up right next to 
the building, I was scared. 

 
    
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

His office is a trampoline park. Literally. His walls and floors are 
trampolines. His desk is a foam ball pit, and the chairs and couches are 
gymnastic mats, huge gymnastic mats. The ceiling is at least twenty 
feet high and the room is the size of a warehouse! For anyone that 
would be an exciting office, but for a boss, I thought I was dreaming, and 
then I remembered what I was here for.  

 
  

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

He sat down in his ball pit and motioned me over to his mat couch, 

then it was silent. “I saw that your car had been wrecked and decided to 

come to pick you up.” He said in a straight voice. “When I picked you up 

and started driving, I thought to myself, what would I want my boss to 

do in that situation, being late for work and crashing my car?” My heart 

stopped, he mentioned me being late. “I thought for a long time, thinking 

about what would happen, then, I decided, I would want a second 

chance, wouldn’t I. So I came to my conclusion, along with a second 

chance, a chance to do better, a chance to clear a mind, I decided to 

make you the head of the photography department.”  

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

I stood in silence, wondering if this was real or not. It couldn’t, or could it, I 
thought for what seemed like forever. Began to get up, strutted away, and sprinted 
through the clear glass doors leading to the photography department. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
It has been two years since that moment, and I’m now working with my boss 
in the Executive department. Even though I am an executive now, I have a heart for 
any late person because who knows, their day could’ve started with a fat dog 
named Rex who crashed into some garbage cans.