First Impressions

Having started a new job, I realized it was also a clean slate with my coworkers, I could potentially be (to them) anyone I wanted to be. This idea was only hit home when on my first day, the questions poured in... where else do you work? How old are you? Where do you live? Why do you need two jobs? Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have any pets? What kind of car do you drive? Where did you grow up? What do you like to do for fun?

I kid you not... I could go on for days with the interrogation I felt. Though it was coming from a pure and curious place, I couldnt help but feel like I was being sized up. Being the new kid and all, I figured it was just part of the process of fitting in and eventually I would be on the other side of the fence, and I would be the one doing the sizing up.

When one of the massage therapists joined us behind the front desk, he too spouted off with the questions. I guess I should make that singular- the one and only question he asked me was, "do you go to church a lot?" I mean, first of all that seems like a question with an agenda and it also seemed like he'd already decided who I was, what I was all about and was just waiting for confirmation before patting himself on the back for figuring "the new girl" out.

To that question, I volleyed one back and asked him, "Why do you ask me that? Does it seem like I do? Is that a loaded question? Because it seems like it."

Im sure my abrupt response caught him off guard because he immediately went onto the defense (unnecessarily, I might add) and started stuttering and making excuses like, "Well you just seem like you do, you seem like a goody goody... etc etc etc"

Please dont mistake my talking about this incident as me being insulted that the people I work with think of me as a goody goody. It was more that they labeled me within two hours and slapped it across my forehead with such disdain that all of a sudden, being a person that seems morally sound, and goes to Church a lot is a bad thing.

Here is the clincher: When behind the front desk, I work with ALL girls younger than me. I would even venture to guess that I may actually be older than the manager of our particular store. Why would I say this you ask? She calls up to the store from home- when she is not at work- to talk (not business) with the girls up there. They plan parties, talk about how drunk they were the night before and dish on guys they are currently "hooking up with." Talk about feeling out of place, I was in the midst of a conversation with one girl (i.e. she was grilling me about my boyfriend) and then she asked me advice on her curfew. A CURFEW?! Are you kidding me?! I cannot even get in touch with a topic like that, much less advise you on it- turns out she is 17 and this particular topic is most likely one of the most important in her life right now. I simply didnt know what to say. I would even venture to guess that I may actually be older than the manager of our particular store.

I have never felt so old in my life.