Work Related

I've mentioned it before, so it's no surprise when I write that I really REALLY like my co-workers. This is, without a doubt, the most cohesive group that I've ever worked in. It's an interesting cohesive though. It's almost family like. I think they've all been together for quite a while before I came along, and it shows. The cool thing is that I feel 100% accepted by all of them and it's a great feeling.

This week I've had some awesome conversations with a few of them. I think many of them see me as someone they can trust with whatever they tell me (which is true), so they share a lot of their feelings about things with me and they ask me for advice. I also have several 'playmates' in the group.

One group LOVES to make me paranoid. They're always poking at me about things that make me think I'm going to get in trouble for something or another. They have me pegged for sure.

My manager? She's awesome. I told her the other day that she is one of the best managers I've ever had when it comes to communication. She has great communication skills and she's been very kind to me during my bad brain days. She tells me it's because even though I was having difficult times, I was still performing. I don't think she realizes that the 'performance' wasn't even close to what used to be able to do. Still not quite there, but she makes me feel appreciated and that's worth a lot, especially with what I've been through over the past few months.

There's another gal who is just about the cutest thing on the planet. She dresses to the nines and is smart. She's the whole package. If I were a guy I'd stalk her....(oops, too much info?). I was intimidated by her in the beginning too, just because she's so gorgeous- but man, she's fun! She calls me "Miss Thang".

Then there's Top Dog's assistant. Geez, she's such a sweetheart and just darling. She used to sit across the aisle from me and we had so much fun. Now she's moved with Top Dog to another floor and I miss her. When she pops down to my floor and visits, it just brightens my day.

Of course there's my goofy co-worker that makes me laugh all day long. Most of our co-workers don't know he's funny. He kind of keeps to himself and doesn't talk much to other people unless he needs something from them. I can see why people haven't figured him out yet. I'm glad that I have. He's made things that would be boring really fun. We both are stupid at math and Excel and we're muddling through it together. I don't think I would have thought math would be fun. OK, it's still not fun. I take that back.

I think the icing on the cake for this week was the last email of the day today that I received from the project manager in our department after I helped him with something. It simply read, "Lori, you're a good person".

Knowing him, I know that he didn't just throw that out there as a thank you. He truly meant it and that meant more to me than he'll ever know. Especially after that nightmare.

Hey, log in! I have something funny to share...

Those of you that have been hanging around my blog for some time might remember a previous co-worker that I used to refer to as "the snake". If you're new and curious, you can find loads of snaky, smarmy entertainment by doing a search using the term 'snake' and reading the posts between March and July 05.

In retrospect, I learned a lot from my experiences working with the snake and I have not let someone I work with (even the Grinch) affect me like the snake affected me. It was a very hard four months and many tears were shed. I eventually quit my position in the department because my manager was unable to resolve things, and I wasn't equipped to do that for myself.

Anyhoooooooooooooooooooooooo........

He recently landed in our Corporate Communications department, so I've had to work with him on a few projects over the past few weeks. I took the high road and pretended that his previous snaky behavior never happened. I complemented him on things (sincerely) and sincerely felt that everything in the past was just that; the past. In fact, he found a job outside of the company last week (ummmm, didn't give a two week notice, by the way), and I congratulated him. I found out only because a project he was supposedly working on for me needed to be given to someone else due to his departure.

Yesterday I found out that he gave me the proverbial finger before leaving.

Part of my job is to submit our department for an award in national publications. By doing so, I am representing my company as well- so my submissions have to go through our corporate communications department. My performance award/raise for next year is based on winning at least one award. Believe me when I say that I was rather shocked by that, but oh well I'm a good corporate citizen and do what I'm told.

If I don't win an award, my plan is to go to the local pawn shop and buy one.

OH yeah, back to the finger. I had a meeting with someone from corporate communications yesterday about another project I'm working on. I asked her about the nomination and when it would be submitted.

She told me that the snake told people not to submit my award nomination. He didn't give a reason, so she assumed it was because I didn't want it submitted. Thankfully, I was able to rectify this in time because the submission is due on Friday. Pure luck, people.

I told my boss about it later because I was still pretty worked up over the whole thing. She even said, "I can't imagine anyone not getting along with you."

I guess taking the high road didn't get me anywhere with this guy. I'm pretty sure though, that taking the low road is going to be his map to a pretty miserable life if he continues this sort of thing.

OK- I'm going to take the low road for just a moment, if you don't mind.

Paul- you're a JACKASS, and you sound ridiculous when you talk in your nasally voice. You may think it makes you sound sophisticated, but to me you just sound snobby and pretentious. You're not fooling anyone. If there was a picture in the dictionary of opposites, yours would be next to "Class Act".

::shakes it off::

Phew. THAT felt great.

Since my cube is up toward the front where everyone walks by, I feel that it's my job to provide hours of entertainment to the other people workin' for the man. OK, not really- but I have started a tradition wherein I provide a new quote of the week on my white board. Trust me, that's the only use it gets out of me.

Here's last week's quote:


Anyhoo, I try to find a good quote- nothing too cheesy and nothing too long. I've found that it's awkward to have someone standing in front of me reading a very long quote. Some people try to be sly about it by walking by several times until they've read the whole thing. Some just stand there and make me nervous.

I was looking for tomorrow's quote and decided that I was in a Dr. Seuss mood. I found this one and it made me sigh just a little:

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

I won't be using that one, but gosh it's sweet.

I think I'll be using this one (it's on the borderline of being a bit long, so I'd better wear something fabulous.)

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, which is what I do. And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”
~Dr. Seuss

Sometimes we have consultants visiting our floor for various reasons. Since the cubicle across the aisle from me is empty, that's usually where they put these guys.

I'm pretty sure the latest consultant thinks I'm a fruitcake (and he's probably right).

There are a few good reasons why I work from home 3 days a week. One of them is that people tend to hang around my cube when I'm there. Usually it's not business related; and if it is- well it tends to morph into fun times at Lori's desk. I get WAY more work done when I'm at home. I can't help it if people like hang around my desk, although I do try to shoo them off if they've been hanging around too long. I do have a job to do, afterall.

Anyhoo- I try to be respectful of this guy sitting to the right of me by keeping things as quiet as possible. I think he secretly enjoys the entertainment though because I've caught him chuckling to himself.

AHA! Caught ya!

I have a feeling that what happened last Thursday was something he shared among his friends. The very idea of this happening in the workplace is too nutty to even comprehend.

One of my pals on the floor noticed my new toy (which I've yet to blog about- sue me), and I mentioned that the music I have on it sounds great. Even my Donny Osmond music.

She gave me a look and then started up with "I'm a little bit Country". I joined in "I'm a little bit Rock and Roll". We sang that entire song together. I do believe we were even dancing a bit.

What makes the scene even funnier, is that my li'l friend is about six feet tall, is African American, and has dreadlocks.

Can you imagine what must have been going through that guys head?

I'll fully admit that I tend to brag about my work accomplishments here on my blog. Probably way too much. Maybe it's because I want my kids and grandkids to have a record somewhere that their mom/grandma was really smarter than they thought. For some reason, I turn into someone who seems coo-coo for cocoa puffs whenever kids are around.

Or, maybe it's because I still don't believe I'm as smart as other people think I am. I know I'm smart- don't get me wrong. I just don't think I'm Albert Einstein-smart, especially after bonking my head. Thankfully, the bad brain days are few and far between. KNOCK.WOOD.

Today I was in a meeting as one of the presenters to a group of about 30. I was presenting on the phone, rather than in the room, which makes it a little awkward. Someone else was presenting something and couldn't figure out why something wasn't working- so I casually mentioned what the problem was without even seeing it in person. About five people piped in things like, "How do you know this stuff, Lori?"; "Lori knows everything about everything", etc. For the rest of the meeting people kept saying things like, "Lori probably already knows this, but...."

We all got a laugh out of it. I also got three casual job offers from the meeting. Funny how knowing bits and pieces of technology makes people think you're a brainiac. I just happen to be the only technology-minded person in that group, so I come off looking smart. It's all smoke and mirrors, people. Smoke and mirrors....

If they were to ask me about math, forget it. Just ask my 5th grade math teacher- Mr. Lee. He spoke to me as though I was the dumbest person on the planet.

Look at me now, Mr. Lee! You can take your yardstick and....

(wow- where did THAT come from?)