Not only am I not saying everything I'm thinking (except through the wall to my cube mate, and when he stops laughing, I'll stop muttering), I have gone past silent to truly invisible. I'd like to end that phrase with "and I've never been happier," but it's still a pretty stupid experience all around.
Monday the new GrandBoss started, and I found a new game. I decided to see how long I could go without meeting her, and this quickly turned into how long could I go without even seeing her. Today is Wednesday. This takes less energy than moving my cheese around, and turned out to be more interesting. I figure, she has to meet her Boss, and her staff in the same week... she can skip me for a few days. It sounds like a noble rationale; truth is, I just didn't want to, then it became a game.
I have the advantage here, because
1) I know of her, and she has only a marginal count of how many people work for her and in how many cities.
3) I can hear her coming. My cube mate has his back to her, and can not. She cornered him today with a "do you know how to XXX in Excel 2010?" and his dread of being geographically in a P.A. slot came true. Because he is a noble character, he rose (literally and figuratively) to the occasion. I ducked like a trapdoor spider.
Most of the time I do not have control over my Invisibility. I can be standing in a bank line, and someone will step right in front of me. I pleasantly say , "Hi." Sometimes I yawp, but quietly, like a Who. And they jump out of their skin as if I just appeared there. It can waste a lot of time getting errands done. On the other hand... the conversations I've heard.
I got a glimpse of her today, but only a 3/4 side view. I could not identify her in a lineup.
LM asked me, "Should I go introduce myself?" I said, "Well, if I say yes... then I have to. And I don't want to." This was all the challenge she needed. As she strode off, "I said, "Tell her I'm immature, ok?"
Incidentally, I've learned that in India one calls the Cube a "Cave." More in the spirit of things, don't you think?
i was just talking about gladys kravitz the other day. her husband's name was abner. you don't see a lot of abners anymore. ;)
ReplyDeleteand maybe i should employ this attitude at my work. my new classroom is toward the back of the campus, so i don't get a lot of extraneous foot traffic. it's really nice. i'll start a running tally on how many days until i see my boss again. keep you posted.
I see my boss(es) every day but unless they want something, conversation is minimal and that's fine with me. Like you, I tend to keep my head down, do my job and go home at the end of the day. My place of work is not my social outlet unlike many of my co-workers and as for team building -- Ha! Ha! Not gonna happen. (Although I must be honest and say that when my birtday rolled around, there was a gathering with cake and laughs and again as my 5th anniversary with this company was marked (again) with cake but this time a certificate and a 5-year pin. Wow!!) M
ReplyDeleteI truly have mixed feeling about your game. My knee jerk is to love it!
ReplyDeletePlayed it for weeks once with a boss I didn't much care for, only to realize (ok, my mother suggested this and we all know how much we all hate taking any advice from mom .... just saying...) that she was taking my avoidance as hostility. Got worried about my review, well, not the review so much as the salary increase.
Started playing a new game. Forced myself to walk past her office (pre-cube days!) every morning and call out a cheery "Morning!" That one word melted the frost considerably and eventually she started strolling past my desk and became significantly nicer to me.
Fun as it is, you might be hurting yourself in the long run when she discovers you work for her and she's been there a month without meeting you. Only a thought...