Green Room - Week 7 - Day 7

[clauderainsrm]

 There is a poll that is opened until Friday. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1158072.html

So if you haven't voted yet, you definitely should do that!

***

A couple RL updates - Thursday night I'll be spending time with a former co-worker for the first time since I was fired.  He still works there. Will it be awkward? Maybe. I'll let you know.  It's not like he worked in the same department, but we used to be in the same area (my former team was moved back to the old building.... apparently when they said they "needed them near the CFO", they meant they needed ME there. :D  I wish they had made that decision before they added an hour to my commute everyday... but I'm happy for the old team. Well, those who live closer to that building at least. It's not as nice, but it's far less underfoot with drama-filled as the corporate office.) 

Anyway, I'll be hanging out with the former co-worker - quite possibly playing some skee-ball. There's a nearby West African restaurant, so I'm considering doing that too. Who knows though! 

What has YOUR experience been with socializing with someone you worked with - at a place where things ended "in a not-ideal fashion"?

***

Present job drama. Not really 'drama" as much as it is - "that was unexpected"
We had our first Support Services meeting today. Which was nice. Big group all together, played some games, they gave out some recognition awards, one of those "team bonding" experiences. Very welcoming. Nice change of pace.  However - this is the "weird" part (for me at least), they started the meeting with a video... the message popped up "Please Stand for the National Anthem: and then they started playing Lady Gaga signing at the Super Bowl. 

Everyone in the room stood and faced the screen and/or the flag near the screen.  I've never had a job that involved standing for the National Anthem before... have you? 

Not sure if this is the "our Big boss" thing (ex-military), if this is a DeSantis thing? If it's government work thing in general? Anyone ever encounter this in the wild before? 

Comments

[reidharriscooper]

I have worked for NYC government in different offices and not once was ever had to do the national anthem or declare allegiance to the flag. I would not react well to it.

[roina_arwen]

Job drama from Tuesday:
We have one dedicated, full time front desk person. The remaining four admins have a rotating schedule to help out. One per day covers her breaks (AM break, 1 hour lunch, and PM break). Second individual is scheduled as the back up (if either the main person or break person has to call in or leave early, they cover that position).

FD person group texted myself AND the back up person around 6am that she was sick and wouldn’t be in. I was the break person; G was back up. When I went down to do the AM break at 10, I find that nobody had been covering the desk! I emailed G and his boss to check on things. G claimed he didn’t get the text. FD person stated she had a missed call from G around 7:30. G’s boss told me that G had called in late, but was at the office and would be down. My 15-minute “break” at the desk was closer to 45 minutes. I sent G’s boss a screenshot of the group text as proof (and double checked with G that the number we had was correct). Just ugh. G hates doing the front desk, and always gripes when he has to. Bleh.

[pixiebelle]

Okay the national anthem thing seems weird to me. It feels like a Florida thing to do though. Can’t say I’ve ever done that, but I’ve never worked at a government job either. I would find that odd.

I’ve never spent time with an ex-coworker, but I don’t think it’s too weird if you two got along. I just tend to be too odd to make friends at work 😂

My only job drama is that I thought I had another week off, but I found out I go back next week. So glad I asked. I’m pretty nervous about it tbh and part of me wants to quit just from anxiety but I know that’s just me self sabotaging myself. I’m not quitting. Next week is going to be super busy since everything is opening back up in France - I have two doctors appointments (six month checkup with my oncologist and just seeing my autoimmune specialist to hopefully sort other things out). Plus back to work. Plus French classes. I’m tired just thinking about.

[erulissedances]

I've never had any job that required the National Anthem, even when I worked for various schools or private businesses. That's just weird! I have been friends with ex-coworkers, however, and that worked out pretty well in the main. Most of them eventually went their own way, but I had one good friend with whom I got together once a week for breakfast for many years.

- Erulisse (one L)

[adoptedwriter]

Last August I went/ was invited to a pool party hosted by a former colleague,(and other former co workers attended). It wasn't as awkward as I had anticipated. In fact, people were fun. A couple of the others had also moved on. Of course, that was a job where I got out and re-hired elsewhere before they could actually let me go, (but I knew it was coming). Most of the talk involved "shop talk" about technology and telling a few old stories about the old boss/principal that nobody liked, etc.

[kizzy]

I discovered that most ex coworkers aren't really your friends because you no longer have the glue (aka workplace) in common. I call them workplace-only friends. I've never been able to keep one after leaving an employer. But hopefully you'll have a better sense and maybe you will remain friends with your ex coworker.

[murielle]

I love the US anthem, I think it's beautiful and such a wonderful expression of hope. (I didn't know what it meant until a few years back and since then I'd rather sing yours than ours. I can't sing ours, I don't know the words anymore. It keeps changing every time the gov. gets an itch.)

I've always considered my friends my biggest blessing. I have a friend I met at work forty-six years ago when dinosaurs walked the earth. (Don't tell her I said that!) But we had more in common than work that might be the difference. Hope it's a really nice time for both of you.

[flipflop_diva]

The National Anthem thing is crazy! Never had a job where we had to do that. I did recite the pledge back when I was a kid in elementary school, but not since then.

I've been at my job for 17 years now lol and the one before that was 7 until I quit so I could move to Austin, so I don't really have an example of hanging out with co-workers after something didn't end well. But some of my best friends were my co-workers at one time. I've been lucky — I've made some really good friends through work that stuck. And for the co-workers that I haven't liked over the years -- well, we all work from home and live in different parts of the country so it's pretty easy to just not see them!

But I hope you have a good time with your co-worker! Skee-ball is my favorite, so you can never go wrong with that!

[roina_arwen]

Most of my former coworkers are just Facebook friends now, but I have on occasion gotten together and hung out with a few, like at a party/BBQ sort of thing, but it’s very few and far between. More often, I’ve just accidentally bumped into one (usually not literally) at the grocery store, and chatted (awkwardly, since I’m not great at small talk) for a few minutes. What usually gets me is the person will call me by name, and I’ll recognize them, but by the time my brain dredges up their name, the chit-chat has ended…

[tonithegreat]

I’ve been at the same government agency in Florida since before I got my JD, and my experience is that the more public the meeting, the more likely it is to start with a prayer and then either the pledge or the anthem, which has been the case through many administrations. Cabinet always starts with a prayer and the pledge and they invite in lots of denominations to lead the prayer. But then I feel like most local government meetings here (school boards, county commissions, planning boards, etc.) do too (pray and pledge that is- the locals not so much with the many denominations). At one point the Cabinet meetings also always included the showing off of an adoptable animal from the local shelter which I always thought was awesome. I think they boasted a 100% adoption rate, too.

[halfshellvenus]

Standing for the national anthem at an office strikes me as deeply weird. :O That hasn't come up since I was in K-12 school.

There's a certain snarky kind of satisfaction in knowing that even though they laid you off, THEY now realize that was a mistake. It doesn't bring your job back, but probably makes you feel a little better?

And hopefully, this is a less toxic work environment that your previous one. Though the anthem salute gives me pause...

[murielle]

Whew! Made it with a few minutes to spare.

Wishing everyone the best luck ever. Such fantastic entries this time! Awesome writers!