Dating back to when I was still in school and I'm talking elementary, middle, and high school, I had always been the type of student/person who always got to work and didn't bother socializing or shooting the breeze with those in the immediate vicinity. The mentality there was fairly simple. I'm there to do a job and I need to focus on that. Socializing and generally talking to others weren't that important to me and so I rarely did it, at least when there was work to be done. This same train of thought followed me into my college years and eventually into the work force. I've been working since I was 18. Enter 2026.
I still make it a point to get to the office on-time (early, really). I get to my cubicle, put my backpack down, and turn on my computer. The computer doesn't take long to fire up and before I know it, my workstation is up and running and that means that I'm ready to get up and running myself. Within minutes, I'm working. Now, I will tell you. That's one of the reasons why I thoroughly enjoy the hours that I keep. At 4:45am, I don't have to worry about being bogged down by the meaningless conversations that await if I allow myself to become distracted, because the office is empty. Aside from security, I'm the only one there. Security doesn't talk to me anyway and I'm okay with that.
This morning, I had to listen to two work group assistants (a relatively new position that the department created - a position that I absolutely loathe because to me, it's wholly unnecessary) going on for what felt like an eternity talking about dogs, how they would like to foster dogs if their significant other didn't want to actually own a dog, and how owning a dog can be expensive. I know that the male assistant, Rone, was working just fine by himself when Fannie finally arrived and like so many other people in the office, she can't come into the office quietly and just get to work. I don't know how they got on the subject of dogs, but she was the one who started it and Rone humored her and let that conversation drag on. Oh, and it dragged. I eventually tuned it out. My gaming headset, which I use as a standard pair of headphones in the office, clearly helped me out in that situation. I don't know how their conversation ended, but I think I lost some IQ points and at least a single brain cell by having listened to Fannie and Rone go on and on for those few moments.
I ignore a good percentage of my coworkers as it is because I get nothing out of talking to or engaging with them. Not a fucking thing. I keep to myself. I find that I'm more efficient that way anyway. I don't even like dogs, but even then, I don't think I would find myself enthralled in a conversation about cats. I have work to do. Let me do that and if I feel like it in the afternoon, we can talk about cats, Legos, Tinkertoys, eating Play-Doh, or whatever dumb shit those simpletons like to talk about. Even if I wasn't as behind as I am at work, I'd sooner not want to be bogged down by silly, nonsensical conversations with people I genuinely don't care for.
Crystal, one of my former supervisors, came by the office two days ago. She was hosting some kind of in-service in the office on Wednesday morning and had decided to roam around trying to direct people to the conference room where that in-service was being held. Crystal left our office some three or four years ago and she's since been promoted to a higher position. I don't know what she does now, but apparently, they have her doing in-services. When Crystal was in charge of the work group, work life was damn near perfect. We had an excellent group under Crystal and I'll be honest. I miss that group because we worked well with each other and there was no dissension. It wasn't perfect and I suppose there were a few moments of friction, but for the most part, the work group under Crystal was so much better than what the work group is today. Seeing her, even if for just a moment, brought me back to a simpler, if not better, place. Like Calgon, I was momentarily taken away. As Crystal walked around looking for people to send people to the conference room, she walked around the cubicles along my side of the office and she commented, quite simply:
I don't recognize any names here.
I had to resist the urge to say the following series of sentences thing that immediately popped into my head after she said that.
Don't feel bad. You're not missing much. I'm ashamed that I know these people.
The in-service lasted just over 30 minutes. I didn't go. I stayed at my desk and hammered away on my actual work. I had work to do as it was and I made the decision to avoid Crystal's in-service. If I wasn't busy, I would have gone. I missed out, I guess. Whatever. I had actual work to do. I made an executive decision.
It didn't rain today. I didn't any encounter any roadkill. I wasn't really anticipating running into either. The skies cleared up from the recent rain, but the cold remained. I'll take it, because it really hadn't been all that cold in Southern California for much of this so-called winter season. i have the heater on and I'm still rocking this hoodie. I'm comfortable. In the distance, I saw that the local mountaintops are currently (and finally) snow-capped. Rumor has it that those snow caps will be gone within the week. I guess we'll enjoy the view while it's here.
Rain or shine, I'll be in the office tomorrow. After all, it is Saturday and that's just what I do. Tomorrow is also the first day of the new pay period, so I'd like to start padding those overtime hours as soon as I'm able to do so. Thankfully, I won't have to listen to all the retarded, mind-numbing drivel that tends to fill the air during those early-morning hours during the week.
Hence, the beauty of working on the weekend.
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