Fraters Libertas

The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit (okay, it isn't a suit, it's just a tie and dress pants, and it's not flannel, it's mainly poly-blends)

I take the bus to work. On most days I get out downtown and walk outside to my appointed cube. But, given the recent rash of really freaking cold weather, I have been driven inside to the underground walkways known in these parts as the "subway".

Other than having to dodge slower walkers and trying to stifle my propensity to gawk unprofessionally at the bevy of hot nursing students, the walks are usually without incident.

I usually stroll into work at around 8:15; about five minutes after the bus has dropped me off. Where I come from, that's a pretty normal hour to begin work, but in our office most people (former farmers apparently) start at 7, many as early as 6.

The perception (especially among the non-exempt shift workers) is that I am coming in "late". Now this would not be much of a problem (as I don't deal with those people much) were this early-to-work philosophy not also shared by upper management as well. But it is.

So the other day I was booking through the subway and first saw my boss' boss going for his morning break (it was 8:12). Okay, not that big of a deal. Then I saw his boss, a tall woman, who has stopped to chat with another co-worker. I hoped to breeze by without her seeing me (like I'm doing something wrong!) but she stopped her conversation mid-sentence, looked directly at me and said "Hi JB". Drat.

At this point I had decided to never walk to work in the damn subway again, but the indignities to my career for the day were not over. As I rounded the final corner in a long corridor on the way to my building I see the COO and he clearly made me. He was speaking to someone as they walked, so I figured I'd just give him a howdy and hope my bubbly personality could somehow help to overcome the perception that was forming in his noggin that JB Doubtless was a slothful loser.

So I walk past and I'm looking to make eye contact. I'd already slathered a toothy, obsequious grin on my face. And nothin'. Snubbed. He in fact looked down at this shoes, as if he could not even bare to make eye contact with someone that had the temerity to start work at 8:15.

I really need to start getting up earlier.