Human

During my morning commute a few weeks back, I'd noticed a girl giving me a funny look. I gave one back to her as she looked like one of My Kids.

She was one of My Kids.

It turns out she's working less than 2 blocks away from my office downtown, so I've earned myself a new coffee buddy.

There are two stories in one here and I'm telling the funny one first. 'P' is one of My Kids I've rarely discussed before. She came in and did her job and we'd talk about college and studying and life/sport in general, but that was about it. She did a fine job and I liked her, even though she was mistakenly "hired" to work for me.

When we were organizing our new hire orientation, DQ (remember Drama Queen? I wish I could forget her!) spotted 'P' and thought she was one of the other girls. 'P' was rushed over to the orientation room, given her info pack and started to learn of her job responsibilities and such. I was running late (most likely putting out fires) and was scheduled to talk about 45 minutes into the orientation. When I came in to speak, needless to say I was curious who this girl was, since I'd interviewed all the others and had never seen this one before. I got the story later from DQ, proving once again just how incompetent she was. I decided since 'P' went through the orientation, if she was willing we'd keep her on and see how she did. And she did fine.

It's hard to believe now that the case of mistaken identity occurred nearly 5 years ago. But it did.

Cut back to 2008 and the funny story... The guys I work with decide it's time for a Starbucks break. There's 2 within walking distance of our office (isn't there everywhere?) and I convince them to go right instead of left --since the one to the right has better service. Right we go and we're sitting and enjoying our drinks when my supervisor points out this brunette looking over at our table. I, somewhat casually, look over and she smiles. I've told the guys about my past and my reputation, but it's time to put it into action. "Guys," I said, " She's giving me the look. I'm gonna go talk to her." "Oh right," says my supervisor, "Good luck with that!" as he laughs. I get up and say to him "I bet you in less than 5 minutes, I can get both a kiss from her and her phone number." He laughs some more and I turn and walk to this girl. As I'm walking, one of the guys chuckles "It's his wife." But one of the other guys has met my wife and clears that up. "Nah, it's gotta be his wife." But the one guy is insistent "That's not his wife."

I'm now talking to the girl. I laugh, she laughs. Then she gives me her phone number which I put in my cell along with a picture of her. As I turn to walk away, I stop with an "Oh wait, I forgot something" look and turn and give her a kiss on the cheek --which she then returns.

:)

My supervisor and co-workers are shocked into silence. I'm the man.

Actually, I'm the jerk who set them all up because 'P' is one hilarious girl. She also took their picture with her cell because she loved the look on their faces!

OK, that was the funny, here's the other part of the story.

'P' and I did go out for coffee a couple times since. She's filled me in on her life and what's she's been up to work-wise and love-wise. She's doing really well and I'm happy to hear it all. I like hearing that My Kids are doing well in the big world. She also tells me how she hated working for me. She hated my boss (From Hell!) and she hated DQ with a passion. She didn't like my immediate co-workers either. "But if you hated everything about it, why are you sitting here, willing to talk to me?" I ask. "Because you were different," she replies, "You weren't them. You treated us differently." "How did I treat you differently?" I was curious. "You treated us like we were human beings," she says.

In my 7 years working there, with the 900+ people I interacted with over those 7 years. With all the hard work and effort I put in and never felt got paid out, 'P' summed up in one sentence everything I needed to hear. She justified the 7 years in less than 30 seconds. Thanks, P!