I imagine that since this is the year of my 10-year high school reunion, there'll be posts inspired by the event.
Today's entry is about how high school never really ends, does it?
Yesterday I received a Who's Who letter in the mail. They still do that? Why? And why the crap am I getting one? Does someone recommend you for these things? Or am I on some sort of eh-list along with thousands of other drones? Do they think that thousands of low-to-mid level office workers deserve or need this kind of recognition?
You know I'm not in this profession by design, and the fact that I'm due to be "honored" and placed in a league of fellow executives and professionals is giving me quite the chuckle.
The lunch room/cafeteria/kitchen/whatever you call it where you are -- it's still quite the little mine field isn't it? My group, well, we're not billable, so we're those basement dwellers that hound billable folk about things like, "Oh, you've been working have you? Well, there's no time entered, so why should we pay you?" Or, "Yeah, if you'd like direct deposit, it'd be helpful if you sent me the form telling me where to put your money. I mean, I'd like to accept your reward on your behalf and all, but I'm not sure that'd work out for me in the long run."
So we have that reputation as being "those annoying people that call you every time there's a problem or inconsistency." We're a pretty loud group of highly opinionated ladies and typically take over the kitchen from noon-1:30. It's on our floor. The rest of the people are just (ab)using it, so when we take up four tables and you walk in and think you're going to sit at the end and help yourself without asking to our li'l condiment bar, well someone's bound to say something (sometimes it's welcoming), but more than anything you get that "Who are you and where do you think you're going?" stare. It tickles me when people walk in and turn around and walk back out.
The clock-watching does not stop either. It's not like there's a bell that dings a dismissal, but the final blink of that colon that yields a turn of the numbers 5:29 to 5:30 gets people in gear. Suddenly everyone moves with purpose and feeling. You could get runover in the parking lot if you're not getting out of the way fast enough.
Someone seriously just asked to swap lunch with me. He has meatloaf, I have ribs. That's just laughable.
Do you remember those worksheets you got in elementary school -- we usually got them on days when the teacher was absent - but there'd be a list of exercises (i.e., fold the top right corner) but at the top of the page it would tell you not to do anything after you wrote your name (or something like that)? I always loved watching my teachers' faces when they'd collect the stacks to see all the corners that had been folded and then unfolded. People still don't follow directions. Boss sends out a highly important e-mail, deadline in bold with a link at the bottom where you're supposed to input some information. Five days after that date, nearly 100 people still haven't bothered to respond, and some of the ones that did skipped the link altogether and decided to e-mail the info to Mr. Bossman. Smart.
I get the feeling that if people could still get "held back," first grade would be overrun in this joint.