Remember way back in July I mentioned that I was being moved to a new branch at work? Well it happened. On the 4th of Sept 2017. I know, I know, I’m only telling you about it NOW but in my defence I was waiting until I had fully settled in to my new surroundings before I shared my thoughts.
SPOILER– I’m still waiting to settle in!
Let’s just say, with regards to making friends with my new colleagues, weeks 1-4 couldn’t have possibly gone much worse.
First off the staff are all really young. Don’t get me wrong that’s not a bad thing, I’m not ageist at all, in fact one of my own good friends, Emma is 13 years my junior and anyone who knows me personally can confirm, I’m not exactly adult material myself.
So, them all being 10+ years younger than me is not the problem, but they do on occasion (most of the time) lack the maturity and professionalism that I’m used to in a working environment…. maybe I was a little offended when my manager said he was having ‘serious anxiety’ about turning 25! Ugh!
The girls are all absolutely gorgeous, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but if I’ve brushed my hair for work then I’ve made an effort! These girls look like they have just jumped right out of Vogue magazine. Fashion on point, make-up on point and hair OMG they all have amazing hair.
Also, because they are still practically kids they can eat whatever they want without the consequences. So they order take away for lunch. Every. Damn. Day! You know me guys NO isn’t in my vocabulary when it comes to food. So there are occasions when my healthy lunches get pushed to the side for Nando’s or some singapore noodles
Now I just sound like I’m jealous, I’m not, ok, I am a little.
Back to making friends. The most common thing to do when you meet new people is find out a little bit about each other, find some common ground and with the help of Facebook see which mutual friends you have.
One of the girls, let’s call her X for the purpose of this post, we figured out that I went to school with her big brother. I actually had a huge crush on him at school but I thought best to keep that to myself. I’m not sure why but when we discovered the connection X called her brother immediately.
“Hi, I think you know the new lady that’s just started at my work!”
LADY? What? I’m the New Girl, no? I mean ok I might have a decade on you but I’m not 80 I’m 34, really ‘The New Lady’. That stung like a punch in the ribs from Conor MacGregor, the blow slightly softened when X said her brothers reply was;
“Oh yeah, I had a crush on her at school, how is she doing?” DAMN, missed opportunity there, guys! That’s why you should always be honest about your feelings, ha!
Next up was Y (not her real name), we already knew that I knew her sister but I wasn’t expecting her to say
“You’ll also know my boyfriend [insert name]”
I can only hope that my face didn’t give away what my head was thinking oh yeah I know that douchebag, why the hell is a nice girl like you with HIM but I think the blank expression probably gave it away!! Sorry!
I had another situation with X when she told me about her EX boyfriend being awful to her, the stories she told us made him sound like an absolute maniac so when she told me who he was I gasped;
‘OMG my Personal Trainer has recently started seeing him!!’
Only for her to reply…
‘Excuse Me, Who is your trainer because I’m still seeing him!’
Talk about jumping in with two feet, I dived right in there with my size 3’s. Nice one Ang!
I’m positive she said EX!!!
Then there was Z(again not her real name) she had an proper meltdown after lunch one day, I thought the spreadsheet she had been working on all morning had just disappeared without saving her work, but no. It was because her boyfriend had posted a ‘horrific’ (her word) photo of her on Instagram. She called him immediately in a panic and pleaded with him to remove it, at which point I’m positive she caught me rolling my eyes. Eeek!
Thankfully, since those first few weeks relations have been much better and I’ve gotten to know the girls, even if I do still feel like I don’t quite fit in, I can chat comfortably.
Oh and another thing. Just to throw their youth in my face again. They all party like absolute rockstars!! I can assure you, nothing makes you feel more like the Office Grandmother than on a Monday morning when your workmates tell you they just got home from a two day bender 2 and a half hours ago, before asking
‘What did you get up to at the weekend?’
Erm, I ran 5k, it was wild, thought I needed my inhaler a mile in, coughed up a lung but I pushed on through cause I’m crazy like that!
I don’t know about you but if I’d ever had a few too many the night before work I would try to hide it, not these young ‘uns, they openly talk about their crazy antics, alcohol consumption and even drug use. It’s all a bit bizarre to me.
After months of having to turn down invites to ‘work nights out’ the inevitable Christmas Party creeped up on me. I ended up partying with them a few weeks before Christmas. If I’m honest, I had a great night the girls are actually all really lovely but I had to do a Cinderella and get Kevin to pick me up at midnight because I definitely can’t party like I did in 2003 so who knows what I would have turned into otherwise…pumpkin soup?
The rest of the gang continued partying… They are still out there somewhere.
Angela xo
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