It seemed like such a good idea, too.

[wring]

:: carefully testing the MPSIMS water with her toe, delicately::

Ok, so half the day, I'm at a big office, lots of cubicles, something like 60 other people, have to wear name tags, etc. and the other half I"m at my own little office, nice, quiet, peaceful. sigh.

This morning, at cubi-hell, there was an 'all center mandatory staff meeting'. So I go there, jokingly say "so, where's the poorly behaved section?" and some one answers "whereever you are...". chuckle, chuckle.

And, Nancy and I get to talking. Nancy is this nice, older lady type, the sort that barely will say "darn", and has a killer 'disapproving' look. She and I joke around a bit, tho' I'm a tad (cough cough) more outgoing than she.

We decide it'd be funny to swith name badges. I mean, they're so ubiquitous, hardly anyone really looks at them, and won't it be funny when no one notices. So we switch. Meeting starts. I forgot that it was one in which we were having a speaker - a police officer telling us about 'work place violence'.

Swell. I've worked w/convicts for 25 years, I've had a 'few' experiences dealing with angry people, but I recognize that it's a valid, important topic and I of course, will cooperate fully.

So, he goes along talking and so on, trying to get good eye contact (difficult in this group), but I'm sitting, nodding sagely with him etc. He's trying to get people to speak, and so says "now, if you have anything you're wondering about, just throw it at me" and I speak up and comment "well, if we threw something at you, that'd be workplace violence", polite chuckles ensue.

So, he goes on, and is going to give an example. "So if ' Tammy' (the very attractive woman his age sitting closest to him) gets concerned about.... Nancy (while looking directly at me)....." and I happen to be looking at this one woman across the room who, upon hearing me called "Nancy" gets this priceless look on her face and suddenly the whole room has erupted in laughter.

Not just polite giggles. Genuine belly laughs. The poor police officer is at a loss. What the hell? and says "What's so funny about Nancy?" More laughter. I guess my face got so red that people began to get afraid that I'd collapse. Even the officer... he says "are you all right Nancy?" More laughter...

I swear to you, at the time, we thought "so, who'll notice our name tags" (and, what a perfect opportunity to use :