Just Like Starting Over

Everyday, I walk into The Job and say, “Good morning. How are you?” to the same 8-10 people, and they say, “Fine! How are you?” And that’s as far as it goes. Every. GD. day. Going on seven months now.

Not that I’m all that interested in the intimate details of their lives. Truly, other than the fact that we work together and we’re human beings, I have nothing in common with those people. And I’d really rather NOT know everything about them. But it might be nice if we could get beyond the weather and the traffic and some version of “TGIF!” or “I hate Mondays, don’t you?” I get enough of that shit from stupid morning radio.

Here’s the thing though: they don’t get me. And they never will. I’m totally on my own. I’ve tried to find some common ground, but really, it’s futile. I’m the youngest woman in the office, by at least 10 years, and of the four attorneys, I’m the only girl, the only one who’s married, AND the only one who has children. Our frames of reference for, say, pop culture are so far and away different, it’s like we’re speaking different languages. Politics? Religion? Out the window. And don’t even get me started on the food thing again. I'm a freak of nature to them. So any of those things you usually gab about with your co-workers? Even the bitching-about-work-stuff? They don’t fly because we don’t really do the same things, and in fact, sometimes, their bitching could rightly be about stuff they have to do for me.

Here's a quick example: I have this quote as my screen saver - “I believe virtually everything I read. – David St. Hubbins.” One of the gals came into my office one day and saw it and said, “Oh, I’ve never heard that before. Is he an attorney?” Painful as it was, I said, “No. It’s from Spinal Tap.” And she said, “Yeah, I’ve never read that.” You see my problem.

And so, when I leave at the end of the day, I’ll say “Goodnight.” And they’ll say, “Have a good evening.” And I'll say, "You too." And none of us will mean any of it. And we’ll start all over again tomorrow. Yay.