This reminds me of the time that my husband told me that I’m short. I’m 5’5" and never thought of myself as short before he told me that.
On Thursday, at work, a co-worker told me that I’m soft. Actually, the word she used was “smooshy.”
I was like, “Wait. Am I one of those girls you have to be careful around because you don’t want to hurt their feelings?” The co-worker denied this, saying I’m sensitive but not whiny. Well, at least I got that goin’ for me.
Throughout yesterday I played around with a co-worker from another group on our floor… every time we passed each other, we’d do fake tackles or elbow each other, etc. I should mention at this point that all of the cubes on my floor are short-walled. So everyone can see you, if they choose, even from across the floor. Anyway, at the end of the day I saw the perfect opportunity to pull a punch right on his stomach. I do a slow-pitch wind up, really fakey, so that everyone (including him) knows I’m joking around. But before I connect with his stomach, at about 90% of my power, I connect with a cube wall. The crowd gasps.
I smile broadly and walk quickly back to my cubicle saying, “Aw, it was nothing. Doesn’t hurt at all! I’m fine.”
I nonchalantly check my e-mail, silently panicking because truly, it hurt like Hell. But I haven’t looked yet.
I sneak a glance. Blood. Not good.
Co-workers in my area are still asking me, “Gee, are you sure you’re okay? That didn’t sound good. Are you hurt?”
I protest that I’m fine but then I sneak another glance and realize I’m bruising up. Oh sh*t. What a freakin’ idiot I am! I start crying. Cube Mom (oldest person in our group by 20 years) runs off to get some ice and my other co-workers console me, saying, “It looks bad - you might want to have that checked. Oh, does it hurt?”
I tell them I’m crying from embarrassment, not pain. It’s numb and I’m a moron. I’m suing my workplace - they should have “No Horseplay” signs in there!
My right index finger is just bruised and slightly scraped. I have a small scab. The sad thing is that I proved two co-workers right yesterday. I am soft and I shouldn’t be fooling around because, as Cube Mom says, “Someone could get hurt!”
::sigh::
