I am so through with playing the rules of someone else's game...

when did we all fall down and hit our heads?

seriously...

I didn't drink the koolaid -- hell I don't even LIKE koolaid!

but something has happened to us: we point and whisper if people aren't thinking like we are, speaking as we do and certainly best not be doing ANYTHING to enjoy ourselves at any moment that could possibly be witnessed by someone else.

one of the ladies I carpool with said "my job is what I DO, it is not who I AM" and I couldn't agree more. the sad thing is, we are not necessarily allowed to be who we truly are when we are on the job.

and yes, there is the matter of public decency -- I certainly wouldn't encourage the baring of a midriff nor do I really need to see ALL your piercings -- but what about a simply acknowledgement that happy employees are productive ones?

we are certainly restricted now because of litigation that placed some very good guidelines: minimum wage, mandatory meal breaks, allowing for sufficient recovery time between work shifts.

but when did we become so obsessed that we have to watch every employee like a hawk? know exactly when they go to the bathroom, was that a personal call, did you fart...I mean really...I just don't know how much more restriction a person can take.

for example: to this very day, I am uncomfortable chewing gum.

why?

try twelve years in a very strict, single sex, educational environment that frowned upon any behavior that could be considered "unladylike". Is it any wonder that when one's true nature is so severely hampered, harangued, monitored, discouraged, that they either end up in a loony bin, dancing on poles or pose nude?

(for the record -- none of those apply -- well, I take that back and those pictures are EXACTLY the reason I can never run for office)

I am curious though...how long will it take? how many stress disability claims? how many anxiety attacks or cardiac infarctions. In the 1990's I think it was called "going postal" -- but what about now?

Have we not learned a damn thing about how to treat one another?
Do we understand that the more we push a person into a corner, the more likely they are to lash out in ways that may be "inappropriate"?

I sigh, a deep and heavy one this time, as I consider that it would have been nice to know that the rules were going to only apply to those who could read the fine print... and maybe THAT was my lesson to be learned...