Game on, Wende

My dad told me the other day that I'm not longer the favorite because Wende has more recently updated her blog. Game on. This will be a less exciting, pictureless post. I'm going to talk about work. Yep, work.

I kicked butt at work today. In January, I felt like I was losing some ground. I was upset about a decision made that affected the work I was doing. I was already emotional that day for unknown reasons and I went into the bathroom and cried. I couldn't help it. I hate crying at work. I want people to think I'm tough. I've cried at my current job at least 4, maybe 5 times in 4, almost 5 years. That's not bad, right? Usually I can get away with it and no one knows. One time, I even crawled under my desk and stayed there until I was composed. To be fair, my grandma had just died, I was dealing with a particularly obnoxious co-worker over the phone, and my desk was much more out in the open than my current cubicle so what choice did I have? Okay, I'm digressing again. So, the point is, usually no one knows about it, but this time I got caught by my manager who was very graceful about it and legitimately felt bad about the situation. He did lose some points though when he told our director. Since then, I felt like I had lost some ground in some way. But last week, I took the initiative to do something major for the weekly meeting I run and it totally paid off. I would go into more details, but it's boring and I'm already bored with this topic. But still.......I kicked COB butt today. That's all you need to know.

So that brings me to something else. The obnoxious co-worker who made me cry after my grandma died (to be fair, she didn't know about my grandma)? She's actually responsible for at least one other Jen crying moment. Guys, I'm not a wimp, really! I'm not going to get into it, but you would cry too if it happened to you. (Ha!) Well, anyway, we eventually came to a sort of mutual, if slightly grudging, respect for one another and we work well together and I don't think she'll ever bring me to tears again. Here's the thing though: I recently found out that we are distantly related! What the what?! You just never know who you're related to. I think she was a little thrown by that news too. Here's the other thing: I recently lost one of my earrings at work and they were my favorites and she was nice enough to help me look all over my cubicle, in the bathroom, and down the halls. She even used a flashlight and a yard stick and all I was using were my eyes. I don't think she was doing that because she knows we're distantly related. I think she was doing it because she is a really nice person after all and it just took me awhile to realize it. Food for thought.

Okay, now, I'm going to blog about the day last fall when people kept saying mildly offensive things to me all day, but didn't realize they were doing it. It was seriously a strange day.
The first instance: I was going to lunch with the people in my section at work and was talking to this one guy about politics. Normally I avoid that topic at work because well, sometimes it's best. However, he started talking about the current political climate and I made an argument for how things are far too partisan nowadays and how politicians need to overcome party politics, etc. Then he proceeded to tell me that he had that same opinion before he really started studying the issues and getting informed. Huh.
The second instance: I was putting books together for my weekly Wednesday meeting. It's tedious work and involves putting copies in binders, etc. This older guy who works on the other side of the floor in a different division came over and said, "well they finally found something you're good at." What? You mean filling binders? I really think he was trying to be funny/make conversation since he really has absolutely no idea what I do, but well.....
The third instance: Shoot! I forgot the third instance exactly, but involved one of my good friends at work implying that I was never on-time. This post is unraveling. There were seriously one or two more instances all in this one fateful fall day. It really was funny and no, I didn't cry.

Okay, so here's the thing. There's a lot of negative in this post about work. I didn't mean for it to be negative, I was just thinking about things at work that I've found humor in recently. I really can't think of a more rewarding place to be. I feel like I work for an organization that truly changes lives for the better. I have witnessed small, but real miracles and I wish I could talk about that more, but I probably better not on a blog. Plus, I get to eat lunch outside in the spring and enjoy tulip time in the plaza. Does it get any better than that?