Today, I am going to teach you how to fold a napkin. The only thing is that there are no instructions on how to fold it...nor will it come to you by osmosis.
In the workplace, as in life, we have always been taught to follow instructions and get good at following them. Instructions to get somewhere (aka directions), instructions to assemble a piece of furniture (e.g. via Ikea), instructions on how to date (e.g. via our BFF's), but did we ever get instructions on how to handle certain situations at work? And most importantly, on how to just learn that sometimes it is not about how we fold a napkin, but the action of folding it?
Let me explain what I mean. A couple of Friday's ago, a group of people from my work and I went out for lunch. For some reason, I ended up going with a group of seven guys. During that lunch, all I did was laugh my butt off. I know most of you enjoy the company of guys a lot more than girls at times, and I do too. But this lunch was something I will never forget.
While we were waiting for our order, one of the guys started playing with his napkin. When done, the napkin had a rare shape that from far away I could not decipher. When I did however, I was back to laughing my butt off. The guy had literally made a male genitale out of that napkin. Although there was some embarrassment, there were definitely laughs, and laughs turned into a complete instructional class (for the guys only of course) on how to fold the napkin just like that. Needless to say, that was one of the most fun lunches I have had at work.
When I compare guys’ workplace rendez-vous with girls, I clearly see the difference in the dynamics. Although more ‘ego’ driven, they are definitely more fun and less gossipy. A lunch with a group of girls from work would have covered topics like dating, work gossip and at times some hypocritical comments; on top of the fact that we always want to get juicy details on the people we work with. And although I can at times count myself in that group, I now realize how much we women just need to relax a bit. We need to be more reserved with the work gossip and definitely more attentive to just enjoying ourselves and have a good time. I think we are all too consumed into making it happen for ourselves (professionally I mean) that it becomes our world…our life.
So in work as in life…how do we fold the napkin ourselves and make it the shape we want?
Friday, November 20, 2009
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I do agree, much like you, I feel more relaxed in the company of male co-workers. However, the question is Why? Why are we, women, programmed to contantly be on the look-out and make sure we are always a step ahead of that "b.." who is trying to screw us over. Why are we, as women are competing so much with each other? Why are we threatened by those females that are funnier, sexier, more successful? I guess it all comes down to 2 things, external conditioning and internal fears. This being said, I will try and relax and take it easy, but until we as women play on the same team (not agains each other), and feel empowered by those around us, I think majority of us, females, will keep enjoying the male company.
ReplyDeleteI have to say we can't always generalize....I have a male co-worker who makes my life at work so miserable!!!!...he is such a fake...hypocritical, suck up!.....I could not enjoy lunch (or coffee for that matter) with this guy!
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