Conform or Else.
by Liv | Published on March 29th, 2008, 3:17 pm | Life
Well today, I show up at work expecting my leisurely Saturday behind the computer fielding an assault of questions from customers, fielding orders, and pretending to actually like the people I talk to on the other line. Every now and then my boss shows up and works Saturday as apart of a "rotation" system her and the other managers have come up with. No big surprise, although I wasn't really wanting to deal with anything "heavy" in this last week of work.Oddly, last weekend, our department got a new quality assurance individual to which several people have had quite an issue with. For me, I go with the flow. When I get back from London, I will be moving on in some form or fashion, and have pretty much let the seriousness of the fictitious work world dim harmlessly into the background. Somehow, however during our little meeting, my boss, made some things abundantly clear. Not so much directly at me, but clearly she was voicing her anger at my co-workers whom I'm lightly associated with due to our reputation as being loud and obnoxiously honest.
The message: Conform or quit.
She of course didn't use that language, but it was as clear as a bell.
I just smiled, and played into it, as I became schooled in the dark art of "corporate brain washing." Occasionally I'd interject something thoughtful as, "It could be the associates, are frustrated they don't have the ability to respond to harsh criticisms." clearly dichotomizing myself as separate and never having a similar thought in my life.
The response was "No. Associates shouldn't expect change. They should change themselves."
Somewhere in the midst of all this I could feel my sense of identity slipping away at just the notion I wasn't running from this mad, mad women and her false wisdom she was bestowing upon me.
"Change themselves, my ass."
As if she's some call center Buddha!
So here I am, smack dab in the middle of a dilemma. Be like everyone else, or be free of mind, and free to think. Being like everyone else does have an hourly wage, and a horrible, but existent health-care plan... where as being free has food stamps, and unemployment....
Options, options, options...
But I just grin and bear it, smile and say to myself "no matter what horse-crap comes puking out of my mouth, you will never be able to take my internal voice full of sarcasm and loathing.
I follow it up with "only 9 more days to vacation".
Dear Lord, I hope I can keep my mouth shut that long.
