Friday, October 01, 2004
Thhh...
When I was training for a job, oh . . . a little more than seven years ago, they had me sit with this woman and Y-cord, which means I listened to her calls to get a better idea of what the job was like.
There was a comfortable series of breaks between calls, and she was cool enough to carry on a decent conversation. She asked me about my running, my major, life up in Eau Claire, and so on. At some point, we got to talking about birthdays and age, and she asked me the killer question that all women ask men: "How old do you think I am?"
I had no idea. I sincerely believed she could be anywhere from 24 - 38. It wasn't good enough for me to say I didn't know. She wanted me to guess. So there I was, thinking about it . . . thinking . . . when she said in this sunken voice: "Oh. You think I'm at least 30."
"No! I didn't say that!"
Apparently she saw me start to form the TH. She was 29. Ever after that, she acted like there was even more difference in our ages.
A while after that, I found out just how much distance there was when she and a co-worker sat down at lunch a table or two away from me. I didn't pay much attention to their conversation until I heard her mention something about "no time". The other woman -- a young, 20-something who didn't look a whole lot older than I -- said: "There's still time to save a marriage."
I know people befriend people at work. But I've never understood this attitude of airing private business in front of veritable strangers. What brings a person to the point of feeling OK about talking about her failing marriage with a college temp sitting ten feet away?
I know the consensus will be, "Well, she didn't feel OK about it, which should show you how desperate she was at the time." But I don't buy that.
Just recently I heard the conversation about who was not yet asked to be married, and how they "discussed it", and how she's "waiting for a ring", and it all seems so General Hospital or Santa Barbara or Days of Our Lives. And as much as I'm sure it does hurt those people, it's equally boring as those shows. Can a relationship mean very much if one person is willing to take it to work with her and pull it out after weather, the weekend, and that angry customer?
There was a comfortable series of breaks between calls, and she was cool enough to carry on a decent conversation. She asked me about my running, my major, life up in Eau Claire, and so on. At some point, we got to talking about birthdays and age, and she asked me the killer question that all women ask men: "How old do you think I am?"
I had no idea. I sincerely believed she could be anywhere from 24 - 38. It wasn't good enough for me to say I didn't know. She wanted me to guess. So there I was, thinking about it . . . thinking . . . when she said in this sunken voice: "Oh. You think I'm at least 30."
"No! I didn't say that!"
Apparently she saw me start to form the TH. She was 29. Ever after that, she acted like there was even more difference in our ages.
A while after that, I found out just how much distance there was when she and a co-worker sat down at lunch a table or two away from me. I didn't pay much attention to their conversation until I heard her mention something about "no time". The other woman -- a young, 20-something who didn't look a whole lot older than I -- said: "There's still time to save a marriage."
I know people befriend people at work. But I've never understood this attitude of airing private business in front of veritable strangers. What brings a person to the point of feeling OK about talking about her failing marriage with a college temp sitting ten feet away?
I know the consensus will be, "Well, she didn't feel OK about it, which should show you how desperate she was at the time." But I don't buy that.
Just recently I heard the conversation about who was not yet asked to be married, and how they "discussed it", and how she's "waiting for a ring", and it all seems so General Hospital or Santa Barbara or Days of Our Lives. And as much as I'm sure it does hurt those people, it's equally boring as those shows. Can a relationship mean very much if one person is willing to take it to work with her and pull it out after weather, the weekend, and that angry customer?
