Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Just a little awkward...

I had started a new job and had been there for about a month, so I was familiar with most of the people who worked on my floor. I was surprised one morning to run into an unfamiliar face in the kitchenette at work.

We made some minimal small talk while waiting for the seriously slow kettle to boil. As the lady was pouring her water, I mentioned to her to be careful as it spills easily. I am normally pretty conscience of health & safety matters, mostly because I'm somewhat accident prone.

The lady thanked me and then said, "Well as a new mother you are going to have to get use to thinking about stuff like that a lot (meaning the boiling water/kettle)."

I was pretty baffled by the statement, so I mumbled something like thanks before I left the kitchen and went to my desk.

I was surprised that a complete stranger would make such a random statement to someone they didn't know. Especially since it turns out, I don't have kids and I'm not even an expectant Mom!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

How much is too much?

One night while playing in an online game, a wife of a guy from our group signed in for him. I was only halfheartedly paying attention to the game as I was on pain medication for a severe migraine that day and currently was feeling no pain.

She introduced herself and said she was having a hard time dealing with being diagnosed with diabetes. Which I agree can be a very difficult disease to deal with and gave my sympathies. - I should learn to keep quiet maybe, because here is what followed:

She then proceed to described in detail how this diagnosis had proceeded the following: having benign growth removed from her intestine and during that surgery it was discovered that she had polyps on her uterus, which lead to a full hysterectomy.

I wasn't sure what to stay to this, as I didn't know her or her husband really that well. And the only other person online with our group at the time was a 16 year old.

She then said that she was ok with all these diagnosis because she knew she had guardian angels watching over her. She had seen at least three of them.

At this point I started to question what I was reading because of the meds I was on. I had to ask the unfortunate 16 yr old kid that was on with us if I was really reading about guardian angels. He assured me I was.

I expressed my sympathies to the woman online (privately apologized to the kid for having to read all the information). And questioned the world yet again on why strangers insist on telling me in great detail about their invasive medical procedures.  Last I checked I wasn't a doctor, psychiatrist, nor have I asked for it.

Ah well, if they didn't tell me about this stuff, what would I blog about??

Monday, April 18, 2011

Imagine that...

One of the guys I work with had recently had a baby (ok technically his wife did, relax). He has a lot of family staying with him and his wife for the time being to help out.

This morning he was talking of being tired. Another co-worker asked if he was up a lot with the baby last night. His response was, "Yes, I was apparently it was our night to take care of her."

Which of course made me laugh, and I had to say, "Wow, imagine that! The parents actually having to take care of their own baby!" - ok maybe a little mean, but most people don't have a house packed full of helpers. I know I have friends who are single parents. 

I think he did feel a little sheepish. I however had a few good chuckles because of it for the rest of the day.

A Fun Part of Divorce...

One thing I like about now being divorced is the 1-800 people who call up asking to speak to "Mr. or Mrs. X". I can truthfully say there is no Mr. or Mrs. X living in this household.

It really baffles them as they are like, but that's the name associated with the phone number... meanwhile I'm laughing manically to myself as the phone company seems to a glitch in their system.

I asked to update my name and they sure did... but they only did billing. Phone display must be a different department. I'm not going to bother changing it. I love messing with the callers heads instead!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

And you're counselling us?

Awhile ago at my work we lost a co-worker suddenly. It was upsetting for a lot of people and we had a grief counselor brought in to help people.

However I was new to the workplace and had only met the person a handful of times when this occurred, so I spent my time just helping out everyone else.

The counselor however seemed to have zoned in on me in particular because I had sat very close to that person. She decided that I was in need of counseling even though I had not sought her out.  She stopped me in the hall one day to see how I was doing, she actually ended up having me pinned against a wall.

She seemed disappointed when I told her I actually hadn't really known the person, so she probed to see if there was anything else I wanted to talk about. I had a tendency to speak frankly and had mentioned I was separated from my now ex at the time. . . little did I know what this was about to unleash!

The counselor then begins to tell me about her divorce.  Apparently it happened while her girls were in their 20s and she was completely caught off guard. She was so bitter about it, she talked to anyone and everyone who would listen to her rant about her ex.

She use to talk to her girls about him all the time, about what he did to her by leaving, how angry she was. So much so her girls finally had to tell her that she could no longer talk to them about their Dad. (Which btw I think kudos on them for saying so!). That it took her years to deal with the bitterness and to get over him. And it was after her girls talking to her that she decided to seek counseling herself and became interested in it.

Meanwhile I'm frantically looking up and down our hallway hoping someone, anyone will walk by to rescue me from this tirade. Of course, this day would be the one day in a million that no one was to walk by in the 20 min she held me hostage.

She concluded her rant on her ex by saying it had taken her a long time to come to terms with it and divorce is never easy. I ended up having to hug this lady as she was almost to tears at the end of her spiel. - I didn't stray far from my desk again while she was in the building. (I still got a pop in from her on her last day to say goodbye, thanks for the talk and best of luck in my divorce).

- Problem #1, I was not getting paid to counsel someone.

- Problem #2, Don't start counseling someone who hasn't asked for it. 

- Problem #3, If you are still so upset over something that happened 15 years prior, maybe you should still be in counseling!

- Problem #4, If you are counseling other people maybe don't mention how badly you handled yourself, doesn't really promote confidence.

Welcome to my ramblings!

It was suggested to me by a friend that I should take up blogging. I think he suggested it for a number of reasons, first he knows I'm a writer at heart. Second so I stop writing him so much! (j/k). Third I seem to attract crazy around me, so I always have stories to tell.

He was right about the writer part though, I've loved writing since I was a kid. In school, I was the one who handed in 20 page stories in elementary instead of the 2 pages requested by the teacher.

I read an article recently though that put it into perceptive for me. It said if you want to be a writer, just write. So here I am after about a month of agonizing over to blog or not to blog.

I hope you enjoy the stories that follow me around, I certainly do!

-Sue