Normally I like our OA. Sweet lady, a little ditsy but extremely efficient and helpful. I’m willing to overlook the ever-changing decorations for every holiday that make her area look like a day school. I don’t even take issue with the obligatory bowl of candy or lame signs that announce her every move, since some people like the candy and it’s helpful to know that she’ll “Be Back In A Jiff ;)”.
But Og dammit, she has gone over the line this time. Tuesday the signs suddenly appeared all over the office:
FRIDAY IS LIME DAY!
We’re all supposed to wear bright lime green clothes and bring in lime snacks. Reason? “Just for FUN!”
In the first place, once you get key lime pie and corn chips with a touch of lime, aren’t you pretty much out of lime snacks?
But the thing that torques my rectum is the clothing. If you don’t wear lime, all day long you get nagged - “Where’s your lime green? Didja forget? I know you have some. Why didn’t you wear it? What kind of party pooper are you?” Suddenly what I wear is a big friggin’ deal.
I hate this high school bullshit, this corporate cheerleader crap that’s under the goddam “Engagement” umbrella. If we make friends at work, that’s fine. But you cannot force us to be one big fucking happy family, no matter how many fucking Hat Days or Hawaiian Shirt Days you come up with. I’m here to work, dammit, not play fucking dressup. Leave me alone to do my job. Don’t put fucking balloons all over my cube just because you found out when my birthday is. Don’t decide what I’ll wear on any given day. Recognize my work, not my clothes or mad crudité skills or the birthday I don’t even bother to acknowledge myself.
I have plenty of lime clothing to wear - green’s my favorite color - but I’m wearing red and blue today, and I’m pissed that I had to think about this shit while getting dressed today.
Go ahead and pile on me about how I could just ignore it or play along because it doesn’t hurt anything. It hurts my head. I really hate this shit. They have to pay me to spend time with these people. There’s a reason for that, dammit!
I don’t blame you for being torqued off about the cheerleading and costume days. It can be a distraction from actual, real work. I also think that an office full of people wearing Hawaiian shirts or hats or whatever can look unprofessional and the constantly “relaxed” atmosphere can discourage professionalism. One of my previous employers was guilty of this sort of thing and I couldn’t work for all the noise and chatter.
Who is responsible for coming up with these ideas? Is it the office assistant? If it is her, I’d schedule a meeting with your manager to talk about the fact that you don’t appreciate being goaded into participating, and that the constant “special events” stuff is a distraction. If nothing else, maybe the boss can ask OA to tone it down a bit.
One member of my family is supposed to wear red today. In fact, he was informed that it’s “National Wear Red Day.” And this person will dutifully wear red.
Now for the multiple choice part of our post:
Which person is supposed to wear red today?
A. Green Bean, age 33
B. Overengineer, age 32
C. Bean Sprout, age 2
D. All of the above
Yeah, but there’s a difference here. The intended wearer isn’t in a professional environment where they’ll have to talk to people in a serious context.
Actually, the big difference is that the intended wearer is age 2, which is the appropriate age to be told what color to wear – “Whether you want to or not, young man, and that’s final. Because I said so!”
Well it is National Red Day for a very good reason. Why children in a day care are expected to do this I cannot begin to fathom, as this is a heart disease awareness campaign geared toward women not toddlers.
Friday Lime Day, however, would just irritate me. I don’t wear green, especially not bright green, as it is entirely wrong for my skin tone and makes me look (and feel) sick. Yellows, greens and oranges are very difficult for many people to wear (especially people of color) and aren’t part of many people’s professional wardrobes. You can participate in the National Wear Red day by wearing a lapel pin but I bet no one would be appeased by a lime green ribbon on a safety pin for Friday Lime Day.
I guess the question is – who is in charge? Is the OA in charge? (I don’t know what an OA is.) If she’s running the scene, then I guess you go along with her rah-rah ideas. If she’s not the boss, complain.
Well, that was my point. IMHO, it’s entirely appropriate to request that toddlers wear a certain color. They do this regularly on the day when they’re studying that color. It’s conducive to learning. And if a kid doesn’t wear the color, they don’t make a big deal of it.
It’s not appropriate to request that an adult wear lime green for no apparent reason, and really inappropriate to bother them about it should they choose not to.
To sum up–to make a 2 year old wear red because it fits in with that day’s lesson–okay. To make an adult wear lime green because it’s “fun”–not okay. And it’s never okay to give someone a hard time about not complying with the voluntary costume.
(As far as “National Wear Red Day”–I didn’t even know that it was a real day.)
And, you know what? Asking people to wear LIME GREEN is just really stupid. How many people actually own something that’s lime green? I don’t. Would this idiot expect me to spend hours at the hell-hole known as the mall searching for something that is lime green, my size, and work-appropriate? And then spend my own money on it? I mean, most toddlers already own something that’s red.
Come to think of it, what I’d probably do is take some plain white paper, color it in with a fluorescent green highlighter, and cut it out and tape it together to make a lime-green thong. And wear it over my pants.
Not to mention caipirinhas. Have your colleagues drink plenty of margaritas and caipirinhas, and no one will care what color your clothes are (or even if you are wearing any)
I just looked - it’s only 8:30, and already there are 13 big bags of chips with lime, a bowl of celery (which cracked me up), a tub of guacamole and a tub of lime sherbet that’s just sitting out on the table . Yeah, this was a great idea :rolleyes: .
(Hey - my smilie’s the right color! )
(So’s that one! )
I’ve already gotten a couple “not a team player” comments. I threw a massive hairy stinkeye at them and walked away. My stinkeyes are lethal and powerful, and nobody experiences one without some degree of damage, frequently resulting in soiled garments.
“OA” is Office Administrator, ie. secretary. And there would be too many unspoken consequences to bitching about this to the boss. That’s why I like the pit. I can vent here (and to several non-green wearing coworkers, who are actually in the majority so far). The boss is a wonderful boss, and he doesn’t have any problem with people participating or ignoring this shit. He’s more interested in the quality of the work, thank Og.
If it makes you feel better, the Liberty Tax place on my way to work has some poor soul out there every day in a Statue of Liberty costume, waving at passers by. Usually it’s a pretty, petite black girl, but last Friday it was a huge white guy with a beard. So, it could always be worse.
[quote=Green BeanCome to think of it, what I’d probably do is take some plain white paper, color it in with a fluorescent green highlighter, and cut it out and tape it together to make a lime-green thong. And wear it over my pants.[/quote]
Green Bean I think I love you.
Please tell us you took a picture and will share it with us. That had to have caused some wrecks!
I am soooooo glad my office doesn’t do stuff like this. We have casual Friday where you can wear jeans and, when it’s hot, knee length shorts as long as you don’t have to be doing something that requires somewhat more business attire. We don’t do all the rah rah we’re a team let’s all act like fools shit that seems so prevalent these days. Now, if you all will excuse me, I think I’ll go thank my wonderful boss.
My mother has to do this-however, she works at an elementary school, so it’s to get the kids to participate.
But when was the last time anyone wore LIME green? 1991?
Yuck yuck yuck…I hate lime green.
BTW, what you should have done is bring in a little squeeze bottle of lime JUICE and whenever anyone hassled you, shoot them in the eye with it and then say, “There-enough LIME FOR YOU!!!”
. Yeah, this was a great idea :rolleyes: .
)