An Interesting Cast of Characters

I have to payback Blogging Mama ...who wrote the such a sweet introduction for me yesterday and surprised me...THANK YOU ANDREA...of course, she needs no introduction.  If you have ever read her stuff you KNOW that her words flow easily on screen.  But she's an American living in Germany.  As she puts it, she is a CEO of the house and her Man brings home the bacon.  She is perfect as my Co-Creator for this site because she is my other blog creator side.  She is organized where I am not.  She is great with grammar where I am not.  We could go on and on.  You can check her out on her personal site Blogging Mama Andrea.

I had this whole post written about eye contact and men and women.  Then I went to this party over the weekend (that I mentioned in my other post) and there was just too much good blogging fodder to pass up.  Have you ever watched your partner interacting with co-workers socially?  It's very interesting indeed. 

I'll set the stage for all of you.

The fourth floor apartment of Florida, (female late 40's, single), a gathering of 9 XYZ employees and me.  Of the group there were three of us who were married (we were the only couple in attendance however), one in a relationship and five singles.  All the singles are 35 years plus.  I had never met three of the people in attendance.

Upon climbing the four flights of stairs we were greeted by Florida and welcomed.  Quickly handed wine of our choice I was introduced to the three people I didn't know.  Camera Boy, male early 40's single.  Traveler male 30's, married and visiting from Asia and Golf Girl female 30's in a committed relationship.  Already in attendance were Grow-Up Boy, male late 30's single, Piano Girl female late 30's, single.  I know Grow-Up Boy and Piano Girl well but hadn't seen them in awhile so we caught up a bit.

We all became seated and started chatting.  Or rather they started chatting.  It is a bit difficult to join in when the conversation includes work talk that I know nothing about.  

So I let my powers of observation go to work.  There are so many interesting things to say about these people but I'll start with Camera Boy.

Honestly, he's pretty nice.  And as his little fake name says, he is camera boy.  He brought a small camera to this gathering.  Apparently he can't go anywhere without one of his five cameras.  He subtly was taking pictures, mostly unbeknown to the rest of us.  Seeing as I was sitting next to him I didn't have to be in many of the pictures.  The thing that struck me first other than the camera was his shirt.  "Boobies Make Me Smile".  Not exactly hard to see why he's still single now is it?  He is smart and funny but he also likes to hear himself talk.  The story behind his five hundred dollar horsehair boots was interesting.  And it made me think a Metro Man label would suit him.  As I said though, nice, smart and funny.

Florida is a very nice lady whose parties back in the US were, quite frankly, legendary among XYZ Company.  This gathering was obviously smaller being that anymore people we would have had to have half of us sitting in another room.  A Florida house versus a German city apartment, very different size ratios.  But a lovely and gracious hostess she is.  There were plenty of delectable treats around the room, quite a few varieties of cheeses, crackers, breads, meats.  Golf Girl even brought a sushi-esque thing (which I stayed very far away from).  Plenty of wine is one thing Florida is good at; making sure everyone has enough to drink.  There were many stories from Florida about this and that, all very lively and entertaining.  She also likes to hear herself talk.  It was a kind of 'Florida versus Camera Boy' show for awhile.  Grow-Up Boy made a show of trying to break in with some story or another but as usual we all kinda ignored him.  I think the name Grow-Up Boy should sum it up for you.

Soon after Married Lady showed up (female married mid 40's) and then came Sweater Vest (male single/married no one knows for sure which he actually is, he claims both depending on the day, mid 40's).  Both nice and funny.  More chairs were pulled out and gathered. 

Background music varied from Norah Jones to Miles Davis to "We Will Rock You".  It was eclectic to say the least. (Kinda like this post).

Watching as everyone danced around the conversation it made me realize how much I miss conversing with people.  Everyone there had stories intertwined with each others jokes about work or who did what and it felt very weird to not know what they were talking about.  It felt even worse when one of them would see my face composed into what I hoped was understanding and they would backpedal the story to explain it for me. 

There were plenty of ribald jokes at another's expense naturally.  It's only logical when you get that many co-workers in a room plied with copious amounts of alcohol things happen.  The asparagus story (or "as pur a goose" as Golf Girl pronounced it.  No, she's not American.) Several explanations as to how it is grown evolved including hand gestures which I will not be demonstrating.  Humorous indeed though.

We broke up the evening by needing to get home to our babysitter.  While it was not the most exciting time I've had (that will definitely be another XYZ Company past party post!) it made me realize I miss being a part of a workplace of strange people with whom I have camaraderie. 

  

Overall it was an educational evening.  Now when Hubby references Camera Boy I can picture him.  Boy can I ever with that shirt and those boots.  Do you have an interesting group at work? Strange relationships with co-workers?  Do you socialize with your spouse/significant others co-workers?  And does he/she change how they behave in front of them?  What sort of tales could you tell?

Blogging Mama Andrea