Two Month Review

Interesting how workplace drama begins to unfold once you've been at a new job for a while.

Here are a few of the characters in my office:

LazyGuy. He delegates work that he (as the lawyer) should be doing (like drafting discovery) to non-lawyer support staff. He managed to get several of his cases transferred to me...cases he's had in his possession for four months but had not yet even read the case file. Oh, and he strolls in around 9:30 each morning and leaves between 3:30 and 4:30. Nice.

CandyMonster. This is the guy who sticks his hand into the candy jar located on the reception desk about 20 times a day. The candy jar is filled by those who generously buy candy with their own money, and include mostly secretaries (note: those who have the lowest salary in the office). I've filled the jar a couple of times too. CandyMonster? No, he's never brought in anything to contribute to the candy jar. He just takes.

DeceptiveReceptionist. Our receptionist is deceptive in appearance only. He is in his 30's. His head is shaved bald. He has tattoos on his neck and arms. He is a rather stout fellow and I was a little afraid of him at first. But it is deceptive. He is soft spoken and polite and patient and a good guy. He says "Hello, Miss Betsy" when I arrive in the morning. He jokes good naturedly with the guy who delivers the mail each day. He has a 10 year old daughter I hear him talking to softly and sweetly on the telephone. Looks can be deceiving!

NeedyGirl. Young secretary who seems to crave constant attention. She'll pop into my office to tell me how she's unhappy with her body and feeling overweight. All 5'0" and 97 pounds of her. Or how she SO would love a cup of coffee but she's given up $5 name brand coffee. Um. Ok. Sorry, babe.

CoolLady. Secretary in her 50's who has a big ole crush on A-dam L amb.ert (from Amer. Idol). Pictures of him are taped all over her cubicle! She's spunky and cool and funny and I enjoy life when she's around.

My boss is pretty nice and easygoing. I stay busy, work hard and try not to worry too much about what's going on around me. If I keep doing that, I figure I'll rise to the surface pretty quickly in that office. It's just interesting to sit in my office and watch so many things play out in the hallway. I notice them, make a mental note (you never know when or how information will come in handy down the road) and go back to work.

And btw, they still don't know I'm pregnant. And I still don't know how I'm going to tell them. But when I do, I want them to think: "Really? Wow, she never whined or complained or needed special attention...she just worked hard and stayed focused."

At least that's what I hope they'll think.
...