Today I actually hung out with some of my co-workers after work as we had a little going-away "party" for Jeff who after 8 1/2 years at VVA is leaving for what I guess are greener pastures at Time Warner. And I had a nice time as we went to a really exquisite (I believe) Greek restaurant a few blocks up from where we work. My job is a project mgmt. firm dealing in construction and I've been working there for almost 5 years there part-time as a file clerk. For the most part I like what I do, as I pretty much get to do what I want, be late almost every day and get paid pretty well. Not a bad combination......but it IS part-time, I only get paid once a month and there are times when I cant believe that I've been there THIS long.
The company I work for is also almost all-white (except for me now), run by 2 partners with 2 pretty distinct personalities and after a dry spell of almost a year or so (in which we lost our quarterly bonuses), it's doing pretty well. In fact, so well that we just moved into this phat 3-story around the block from the old, rundown offices we used to work in. As part of the support staff I'm mostly close with Arlene, the office mgr. and my direct supervisor, but I pretty much get along with everybody including the partners, associates and the rest of the support staff. The company (esp. the higher-ups) is filled with typical diet-soda drinking white folk making money, driving nice cars, with their nice homes, vacation spots, stay-at-home wives and of course, a nanny for the spoiled-ass kids. But most of them are nice, we bug out sometimes and they treat me with respect. I even have my own cubicle, get to listen to the radio all day, get on the Net whenever I want, can fidn any excuse to put in extra hours on the daily and leave late (and handle personal business) just for the hell of it.
But for all the times in my 5 years that my job has had X-mas parties, picnics, after-work drinks, etc. etc. I've always been invited but never went to anything....really because I've just never been interested in playing the "token" Black guy in a white-dominated field/company. Today tho I actually wanted to go and just say bye to Jeff who was always nice to me tho we never really were close. Jeff, who is/was one of 3 gay guys (TOLERANCE does NOT equate to ACCEPTANCE....more later) at my job, was also close to Imani, an ex-co-worker who quit in dramatic fashion about 3 years ago that I still speak with on occasion. So that was it for today and I'm glad I went. I had a nice time and got to eat some food that I wouldnt normally eat much less get a chance to eat.
Also, my old college buddy Rich called me today checking to see if I was still "alive". I havent spoken to Rich in months, on purpose really, only because I've just needed a break from talking to people who I knew from my old school/employment Hunter College. Yet its pretty considerate when people call u to check up on your status, so I'll be sure to give him a holla soon. Its rare in life that u come across people as genuine as Rich, plus he could always make me laugh and I liked that....ok well gotta go!
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