Man.
The last two days of work completely sucked.
Classist Bastards.
Details:
I work in the mail center at a pretty good insurance company. These past two days, I had to attend an interesting program called "Quickstart". Let me begin by saying that quickstart was not very interesting. Yes, I did get prizes and my lunch/dinner paid for. Yes, I did enjoy the games. However, I learned next to nothing about the company that I didn't already know. I already knew most of the VP's (although I didn't know them as VP's, I knew them as my winter co-worker's parents). Wait.
K.
Getting ahead of myself.
Okay, lets try this again.
Details.
Over the course of the two days, we had several presentations about all the various aspects of the company. boring. we also played games alot. also pretty boring, but not as bad. However, the presentations are what I really wanted to touch on.
Most, if not all, of the presentations were given by the senior management of whatever division they were. Some were okay, some were very engaging, some were a complete snoozefest, but all were geared to the employee who was making their employment at Secura a career. I happened to be the minority of one who didn't actually care about their job, and where that is all it was: a job. Anyhow, they took us out to dinner at one of Appleton's better eatingplaces.
So naturally, being low-badger-on-the-totem-pole employees, we were expected to kiss the senior managements ass (figuratively, thank god). For the most part, this was pretty natural to me. Most of them had a kid around my age that I had worked with over christmas break, or lived somewhere around me (we discussed real estate. weird, but kind of fun), or knew my dad (either by working with him way back when or by going for their masters in the same classes [note: also way weird]), or we had similar taste in music/musical anecdotal experience. So most of the bullshit came pretty naturally to me. It was actually pretty fun.
And then I got to chat with the CEO. I'm sorry, but the man is not going to end up as my best friend. Quite frankly, from a personal standpoint, he's a flake. Complete phony, investing all his time in bullshit highspending hobbies (read: golf, cigars, old cars, golf memorabilia) and blowing company dough on taking international trips and treating our agents to fancy bullshit dinners. The rest of the people were complete bourgeois brown nosing asses (minus Todd, who kind of lives on his own pretty awesome and wacky plane of existance. Also, he never really seems to be looking at anything. Kind of like a cat, just looking kind of around at stuff).
Anyhow. I digress.
Dinner.
Right.
So I had to bust out the good manners (fuck that). This put a sever strain on my temper. I mean, christ, I got ribs. I wanted to pick them up and dig in. However, I was two seats away from the CEO. Shit. We had to wait nearly an extra half our before we got our food (there were about 20 of us). My ribs were cold when I got to dig in. And the dig in? not fun. The meat was so tender it was falling apart. And thus, the only thing that the fork could really stick in was the charred outside part (read: delicious). It took me nearly forty minutes to get finished.
!
Backing up a bit.
Prior to dinner, we had drinks.
I was the only attendee under twenty one.
This was complete bullshit.
Fucking water.
Anyhow.
Big whoops of the night.
Two of the people joining us were from out of town (one from our Michigan office, another a field representative from Minnesota). They were both pretty okay when they weren't kissing up. They were discussing with the CEO (and consequently the rest of us because if the CEO is talking about something, lemmings listen) about how their hotel had every amenity imaginable except a pool. Someone jokes about taking a swim in the fox river if they need to swim.
I chime in, "Yea, careful with that, you'll grow an extra arm."
Silence.
Shit.
I think, okay, maybe that wasn't funny, even the annoying cutesy workplace funny. I look up.
Deathglare from the CEO.
Shit.
Awkward silence.
Then the field agent. "Yea? Is it that bad?"
"Oh, it's getting better."
Dinner continues, but quieter.
Shit.
My hypothesis on why this went over so poorly is trifold: one, the CEO takes great pride in the area, and my insulting it hit a sour note.
two, the company I work for prides itself on being very ecologically minded (although that is also bullshit. Of the two departments I worked in, neither used recycled paper, and neither used fewer than eight reams of paper a day). Mentioning we decided to have our home office about a mile from a river where the fish are inedible due to the mercury levels.
three, I was the youngest one there, by about four years. What right do I have to be witty? That obviously comes with a- being a middle aged woman who likes to gossip all the fucking time and works in the telephone answering department so she NEVER STOPS TALKING, b- a wrinkled old man who needs a box of viagra to keep it up for ten minutes for his old sagging wife.
Anyhow, that was the work aspect of my wednesday.
Blah.
Personal aspect is more annoying (seriously, I am going through these minibreakdowns like they are candy or something). Living with my family isn't helping at all. I need to get a car and move out.
Anyhow. Hope you're having a better week.
