I love "F" words, especially "Ffffffr...

I love "F" words, especially "Ffffffrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiday!"

 

Today my direct supervisor came by to ask me to hit her with a question about our job that I might be afraid to directly ask senior leadership, and I couldn't think of anything.  She looked at me quizzically and asked, "You sure there's nothing on your mind?"  I told her there's plenty on my mind, but nothing I would ever be afraid to ask. I told her exactly what my concerns were around how company performance is going to play into our salary and bonuses for next year.  Why would I be afraid to ask that question? 

 

I've never been afraid to speak my mind to superiors, even to the point of getting myself into trouble.  I remember attending employee meetings at Whole Foods and all the cashiers would be pissed off about something and spout off about how they were "totally gonna bring it up in the meeting."  Of course no one would so I would appoint myself advocate and speak up.  And when the leaders would push it back to the group to see who else felt this way... crickets.  Bunch of chicken shits.

 

But not everyone has been telling people how it is since the minute they learned to talk.  Throughout my early r'epertoire you will find such hits as, "You have pimples ALL OVER your face!  Didn't you hear me? I SAID..." and "That lady is FAT!" and the oh-so-memorable encounter with the crazy lady on the bus with the enormous "Big Bird" sunglasses, "Look mom, a MOVIE star!"  You would think that I would have grown out of this, but no.  Fast forward to me at 15 in a blackout after drinking half a pint of Blue 100 sitting next to some guy at a party, "God, you have PUBIC hair growing out of your HEAD!" and laughing maniacally. 

 

Lesson learned: the courage to speak your mind is just as often a curse as it is a blessing.  In those moments I am still blessed with being in the presence of people with a great capacity for compassion who understand that I am just an idiot. Like that poor death-metal-loving-trench-coated soul I was harassing said to me, "Yeah, I get that a lot." From the whole blacked out night this is one of only a few episodes I remember and I felt like a total ass the next day.  Even now I'm lucky enough to have a husband who can tolerate my spouting off--to a point. 

 

So, you know, (gum smacking) I'm working on using my powers for, like, good instead of evil (envision me channelling Roseanne Barr there if you will). And I think it's especially useful at work because if I don't stand up for myself, who will? Granted I have to curb certain tendancies and exercise diplomacy that does not come naturally if I want to HOPE to keep my job.  

 

Without a job, Fridays are meaningless!