Coworkers

Near the end of my work day a colleague came around and asked me about the blog, said we hadn't discussed it in a while. I'm sure I've written about him before, I said I often think of my college roommate as both are 'Japanophiles'. My boss heard this one and said that adding 'phile' to a word makes it bad. But I don't think so, as it means somebody who likes Japanese culture. She was thinking of 'pedophile'. I gave examples of 'francophile' and 'philharmonic'- those are good things. There's even Philadelphia- meaning 'the city of brotherly love'. I will have to wonder if it was a good thing to speak about my blog at work. But I don't write about my line of work all that much. I write more about what I do off the clock.
   Seems as good a time as any to describe them. There's the aforementioned colleague, thankfully he takes the label 'pop culture psychiatrist' well. But I understand he's not necessarily analyzing me, but wording things to make them sound more intellectual. He likes calling email 'electronic correspondence'. He also recently asked if I was going to another Lady Gaga concert soon. I said I haven't seen that many musicians perform more than once, usually there's a few years between that. It is fun how we like referring to her by her real name, Stefani Germanotta, as I like seeing if I can trip up anyone who don't know real names.
   My boss likes a good laugh, I know this well. She's advocated that I try dating coworkers, I still prefer not to do so. Eventually it made sense why, as it worked for her since she married our I.T. guy. I often give people nicknames, and usually call him 'Mr. I.T.' Then somebody said it's not accurate since he's MIS, but I mainly see him on I.T. issues so I stick to this moniker. He seems to enjoy a good laugh as well, as I end up fielding B.S. from them every so often. I end up staying serious and have to remind myself it's B.S, or some people call it 'busting your chops'. It seems a big secondary role for me is comic relief, as I'm known for making people laugh without trying too hard, just describing my life.
   Then there's another colleague, known for liking the New England Patriots, especially wearing hooded sweatshirts saying so. My boss once made a joke how she would dress up like her for Halloween. I was informed by her once how she doesn't like hugging people, a moot point as I don't hug people much at work anyway. So for her birthday I sang 'happy birthday, please don't slug me I won't hug you'. For a while I would get documents for her as quickly as possible whenever she requested them, even late in the day after our cutoff time. Then I said I needed something more, and was fine with cookies out of the vending machine. Good or bad, sometimes this is the way the world works, how small bribes go a long way. I just wanted to ensure I wasn't being taken advantage of, as sometimes people will do that. But at the same time, I'm anything but petty with colleagues. I don't believe in saying 'how high and when?' when somebody says jump, but I do whatever I can and don't quibble over whose turn something is. We are there to take care of customers- internal and external.
    To be honest, it was hard at first to know what to write about in a blog, as it's not like a journal where you're the only one who sees it. I prefer to avoid injuring anyone if I can. So in many ways it became more about what I've done than how I feel about things, wanting to stick with definites when others are reading.
   In other issues, I was a last minute replacement at the comedy club tonight, felt good to be onstage again as usual, got 3 minutes. It's usually no problem finding material when it goes quick, and I have plenty prepared so choosing is simple. I spoke about the elephant ride and the bungee cord trampoline, the Lady Gaga concert, the 'Japanophile' thing, and how I'd make a good rap interpreter like on PBS as I understand the pop-culture references made and can pull off the dour documentary show host well. I like how it's a natural thing being onstage now, since I've done it enough and know what works and I'm focused. When people ask about the craft I sound articulate to them. I used to call this 'putting on the uniform' as I knew when to turn on the switch and change personas to fit the situation. I was spotted by some people while leaving, their car was pulling away and I got a wave and thumbs up from their window and returned the favor on gestures. It's fairly routine on handling it, just be gracious and say 'thank you'. Recognition for a job well done is good, different from validation which I give to myself, no one else can really give this to me.