Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The highlight of my day

I hope I can laugh at this a year from now. This is an example of the tyranny of the easily offended. Yesterday at lunch hour I was walking my cold tea to the microwave in our conference room. A group of people from the fiscal services bureau of my division had occupied the room to eat their lunches. I needed a second to look to see what the situation was and quickly saw that I was not welcome. This was reinforced by the main lady walking up to the door and slamming it shut as I walked away. Message delivered and understood. I could use another microwave oven to heat my tea as the other lunch eaters would not hear of me using the microwave in their presence. I brushed off the hostility. I heated my tea and walked around their precious lunch in their conference room that I wasn't welcome at. There are three doors to enter and exit this conference room and I had to walk by the second door to get some copies. Not fully comprehending the sensitivity on the first door slamming, I walked up to the second door to see if something more important was going on that would have warranted the first door slamming shut. When I saw that it was just the ladies having lunch, I walked away, both times without saying a word.
 Today, my boss calls me into his office about a half hour before the end of the day and wants my story on what happened yesterday. Apparently the main bureau chief was so offended by my approaching their lunch without saying anything that she went to the trouble of meeting with my bureau chief, and telling him her side of the story. Her side said I was standing at the door acting like I wanted some of their lunch without saying a word. She said they closed the door in my face but did not slam it. I told him they slammed it. I get that they don't respect me very much but I said this looks like somebody is at war with me for reasons I don't understand. I also said its not my place to administer justice but when somebody slams a door on you it does pique your curiosity as to whether anything more important than a lunch is going on. And finally, it appears that this ladies source of power is in being easily offended. What I am wondering is what is your impression of my story here. This is my first attempt at blogging.

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