Journey mercies

Some days back, one of my colleagues remarked that I came across as "soft and feminine". At my raised eyebrow at the remark, my colleague added that being soft did not mean I was not aggressive. Though I was certainly aggressive, I still held a soft demeanor. Soft was definitely a first for me.

Yesterday, when a submission of a tender was due in the evening, my natural aggression came out as I expressed my frustration to a colleague of another colleague who was not responding with his portion. The colleague suggested I put all that I said in an email and so I did. When it comes to verbal lashings, very few can challenge my prowess. I have though, after two years, learn to curb my lashings on emails, so I sent a polite but edgy email.

When I got to the office later, the colleague I indirectly unleashed my ire on in my email and his manager gave me odd looks which I of course ignored. They have never worked with me before, and I always get that look when people experience their first encounter with my brusque and sharp attitude towards work, so I wasn't bothered.

What never fails to amuse me is, people bitch about how short a notice they have been given to respond, but when you give them at least a week beforehand, they will never get it done until the very last day. And they always manage to produce something when they only have one day to work on it.

I only thank God that the team I work with across the organisation are people who are accepting enough of my impatience and mood swings and take my brusqueness in stride knowing that nothing is ever personal with me.

The night before I had dinner with friends, and an ex-colleague joined. During the conversation, Ee Von turned and asked me to do something I used to do during college days that always got the girls going off in peals of laughter and without hesitation, I did so. My ex-colleague was tongue-tied for a few seconds before he declared that this was a side to me that he never knew I had! Heh... actually, I quite nearly forgot about that side of me until Ee Von reminded me of it last night.

Work has definitely turned me into a more uptight person and suddenly, I miss college days. Uni days was definitely a time to remember, but I can never remember a more carefree, mischievous and fun time than college days.

Labels: Friends, Work tales