Mission Accomplished in Everyday Ramblings

I know it is particularly American of me to love the working of time on man-made things but I do. This is a defunct fountain pool in front of a mansion we walked by in Salem last weekend. Except for the fact that the grounds are so well kept one could slip into some dystopian thinking looking at shots like this.

When I was in my mid twenties I was fast tracking in the corporate headquarters of a large well known bank. I had started out as a temp in one corner opening mail and a few years later I was the lead supervisor of a group and had million dollars of signing authority and was in the far opposite corner by a window. (This was before cubes.) I left before I would get promoted again.

I also vowed that I would never ever learn to play golf. In that organization, and in many I have encountered since, golf was the prime networking activity. Everything else paled in comparison. I did not want to become a “banker” with a high stress job that had a lot of responsibility and no creative outlets.

I kept that vow. Part of our new performance review model at my current job is based on teamwork and a few weeks ago when the posters went up for a building wide put put golf tournament I put together a team on day one. Then I borrowed a classic putter from Most Honorable.

We had the tournament this last Wednesday. I hadn’t a clue what to do. I thought it would last maybe a half hour or forty-five minutes max. We did it in the building. They built traps in the lunchrooms, and in every workspace that wasn’t restricted for medical or security reasons. We even had to make our last shot out of the elevator.

Last year I didn’t participate because I was baffled by what the event was and was pretty sure no one would want to be on a team with me. This year I have Saint Joe and he was my draw. People seemed to be having fun last year, in the building, at work. What a concept!

We did have fun. Once we figured out the rules and settled in, particularly for the first seven holes.

But then we found out the team behind us was the management team with the Director I have so many “issues” with. They were not only cheating they were making us wait for them even though they were behind us. And there were two holes on these incredibly wonky linoleum floors and the balls would just roll around randomly. The first one of those was kind of fun, but the last one tested our patience a great deal.

By then we were all starving and it had been almost two hours. 16 holes was too much of a good thing! We were so darn happy to finish and get back to work I can’t begin to say.

Oh well. I had a cute little approximation of a golf outfit on and was therefore highly visible. Mission accomplished. Noko is a team player.

One that is very happy to be back on her own again. :)

Last updated October 03, 2014