Doing the Blog Thing

I figured it was about time I got my own blog. I've got a lot to say, but I'm not a person who goes around pontificating to strangers. I kind of like the fact that blogging has allowed people to hear you out without any of the usual stuff clouding their judgment. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. There are a lot of bad things about it, too, but that is a topic for another day. A little more about me...I am a 23 year-old college graduate who works in an office surrounded by middle-aged women, some grumpy, some clueless, and some who are both of those and more. As utterly normal (read: uninteresting) as this job is, it still manages to be a surreal experience. Before I started working here, I never imagined that a female-dominated office environment would be just as catty, backbiting and negative as it appears in movies and on television. But it is. Oh, how it is. Take a job here and observe how the minutiae of daily life becomes fodder. Five minutes late? Well, next staff meeting long-suffering boss will dutifully "remind" everyone that we need to be to work on time because some of our coworkers don't appreciate it, because it's not fair. Well, I don't think it's fair that the aggrieved parties (you can always tell who ratted on you by the smug expression) leave 10 minutes early every freaking day, but that's me. I don't pay attention to what time anyone comes in, how many cigarette breaks they take, or how much they generally SUCK. I don't want to, at all. I just passively take it all in and remember certain choice tidbits when I'm indirectly called out in a meeting for the most minor of infractions. Thank god my boss is as laid-back as her boss will allow her to be. That is the only reason I've been able to stay in this job. Certain people seem to derive a bloated sense of importance in pointing out other people's faults, as if complaining about that extra cigarette break will make them any less dumpy and divorced. And of course, I get far less respect than my coworkers because of my age, it is exceedingly obvious. Among the complaints that I've heard are that I dress too much like a student! Well, I was a student two years ago, dumbass. I'm 23, sorry. I don't do stirrup pants with theme sweaters or rayon blend pantsuits. And I definitely don't have the money to get a new "work" wardrobe to please people who would just replace that with another grievance as soon as I did. More on this later...