I Have To Work On My Social Skills

Even though it's Thursday, this morning I was able to put on my "Overly Casual Friday" clothes, because today was the Divisional Company picnic at work.  And even though I'm only a contractor, I was pretty sure I was invited.  All week, people had been coming into my cube and asking me if I was going to the picnic, and I said would, even though I didn't believe it.

But, at about 12:30 this afternoon, with my stomach growling at me because I hadn't made a lunch to bring in, I decided to trek over to the appointed spot on the massive grounds of Giant Pharmaceutical House and see what was going on.

This is actually a new development for me, as I've always been painfully shy, and have made it a practice to avoid any type of awkward gatherings of unfamiliar people throughout my life.

So I drifted towards the crowd, got in the food line and selected a cold hamburger, cold bun and warm, runny cole slaw to put on my plate.

Then I mingled.

I spied the Filipino guy in my department, waved at him at started to walk over ... when he abruptly turned on his heels and walked the other direction.  Strike one.

Then I walked up to the dynamic trio of "Steroid Man, Silent Cubs Fan and Aging Frat Boy" and said "Hi!"  This was met with stony silence.  Strike Two.

I made eye contact with a woman who works near me and approached her.  And she immediately pulled out her cell phone and started punching buttons.  Strike Three.

Then an errant horseshoe whizzed by my head.

I stood there, munching on my cold burger and suddenly muttered to myself "Fuck this shit".  So I strode over to the freebies table, where they were giving out free t-shirts (I was low on t-shirts), brazenly collected two of them and went back to my office.

So, perhaps I do need to work on my social technique. Or maybe I just need to say "Fuck this shit" more often.

I kind of like the latter.