This morning I called all of the temps into the file room to address some random issues with the updating process. Since the process changes every few days and I'm always asked to "remind" the temps to do things, I figured it'd be easier than going around the office and telling them. None of the temps have email addresses, so I can't send passive-aggressive emails like my coworkers do. (Perhaps this can help me get over the passive aggression I seem to rely on.)
As I was reading off the things I had written on a post-it (it was a very brief meeting), I noticed that Katy was trying not to laugh. I figured she just found it amusing that I got stuck with the job of training and managing them even though it's not really my responsibility. Or perhaps she just found the idea of me in charge of anything was funny. It is, kind of, if you think about it.
When I finished my talk, I asked if there were any questions. Katy was the first to speak. "Did you stand there on purpose?" she asked.
I looked up and saw that I was standing under mistletoe.
This is why no one will ever respect me.
Coincidentally, I don't think mistletoe is very appropriate in the workplace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I apologize for undermining your authority and mistletoe is not appropriate.
This made me LOL.
Why do you refer to these human beings as "the temps" (here and in earlier posts)? It's dehumanizing. You seem to struggle (however humourously) with the feeling that you yourself may not be sufficiently respected. It seems to me that, instead of being willing to address this issue as belonging to your own experience, you are projecting the status of "less than important" or "less than fully human" onto a group outside yourself. Even if some of "the temps" in question profess to be ok with your terminology, in publishing a blog you are addressing yourself to a larger audience for whom the dehumanizing term "the temps" simply means what it more broadly means when uttered in our culture: namely, "this class of people whom I don't want to acknowledge as fully human, but instead want to refer to in this dehumanizing manner." Given your considerable ability to reflect on your own experience and actions, it seems to me that you'd really benefit from taking a look at this issue. Good luck! Signed, YST (strikes again).
Sorry, it's YST again. I forgot to say that I can see from your blog that, until recently, you yourself were one of "the temps." I wanted to say that I wonder if that fact is connected with your eagerness to separate yourself from this category AQAP by objectifying and demeaning its members. Take care.
Post a Comment