Tonight kicked off my official work duties in Montreal and I found myself amongst approximately 50 co-workers at a "networking dinner." I'd met probably 25% of these folks before, but a good number of them were strangers to me, hailing from Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Texas, Montreal and other far-flung places.Somehow, I sat next to a Sarah Palin look-alike who had the same nasally voice and irritating politics. She made no effort to hide her ultra-conservative views and on top of it all, she was super loud, annoying and vociferous about her opinions. She cut everyone off and insisted on engaging me individually on topics ranging from the LZR swimsuit to Dancing With the Stars to the ASU Sun Devils to San Francisco. And I could tell that others at my table were growing uncomfortable with her chosen course of discussion, yet she continued, unfazed.
I learned that I should avoid politics in polite conversation, but Ms. Palin Doppelganger insisted on pulling me in. But I managed to resist the temptation to engage her and just sat silently until she realized that she was overstepping the line between personal life and office life. I think the problem was that she had no problem consuming glass after glass of wine even though she barely touched her food, for fear of straying from her strict Weight Watchers diet. Finally, she muttered something along the lines of, "My husband warned me not to drink too much and let my mouth run..."
It's a damn good thing that I'll never really have to work with her directly.
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3 comments:
We forget, don't we, when we're out of our home base area among the reliably lefty workers of your previous and my current Corporation, no? [sigh]
It's so true. Many, many of my co-workers now come from the "flyover" states that I used to ignore but now have to confront on a daily basis. It is, however, a good reminder that this election is not in the bag!
I live in the best flyover state there is and it's touch and go. Apparently if you screw up everything you touch, people are still willing to give you a second chance. I need to reexamine my modus operandi. I'm making life more difficult than it needs to be.
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