Saturday, April 4, 2009

Getting To Know Me: The Office (Walls)

I'd forgotten that I had this sign.
Ass sign

It was hidden by the new desk that I got.

I had to smile when I saw it recently. It reminded me of how it came about.

It was soon after I started working at the job I'm currently at. My co-worker Paul and I shared an office. He and I became fast friends, and would spend moments throughout the day talking about our childhoods, our likes and desires, our home lives, love lives, and introspecting.

I can't remember now what exactly was said. I seem to recall saying something during one of our conversations about me being an ass or pretentious. I don't recall if I was telling him that someone had called me an ass, or if I sometimes felt like an ass, or as if people thought of me as such. It seems we were in one of our light-hearted and good-humored yet introspective moods. I just remember Paul telling me (I'm paraphrasing here. It's been a long time), "You're not an ass. You can just come off as pretentious and arrogant. I'm not saying you ARE pretentious and arrogant! You're not! But to someone who doesn't really know you, you can come off like that."

I laughed and laughed at this!

And so I made this sign:

Ass sign

"I'm not an ass. I'm just pretentious and arrogant." And I hung it over my desk. (We work in a small, relaxed office. We are an online business and don't have customers coming into the office, so we don't have to worry about appearances for the sake of business.)

But the bosses wife evidently complained behind my back that the sign wasn't "professional". She complained to Paul, who mentioned it to me. I ignored her complaints.

Then one day I came in to find this over my sign.

Multifarious sign

"I've got class. I'm multifarious and elegant."

Paul had created this sign and taped it over my old one.

When I moved to my new office, I posted both signs.

3 comments:

Libby's Library said...

I think that you're a riot. If I worked outside of the home...I'd want to work in an office just like yours!

The Big Burbs said...

This gives a whole new spin to the acronym, CYA.

LOL ;)

Paul Colaianni said...

Ha ha! Yes! I remember that sign well! Ah yes, the good old days. We sat in the back office, next to the computer rack. People on the phone would always ask if we were in a warehouse or a wind-tunnel.

I forgot I created that for you. I think you paraphrased me well! You are definitely NOT an ass. You've got class AND you are pretentious and elegant. Hmmm, another sign perhaps...

Thanks for that walk down memory lane!

Love
Paul