he said. she said. a married couple's blog.

About every six months, we have a New Employee Reception here at work. Usually, I don't go -- mostly because it means talking to other people, and often, I actually have work to do anyway. This time around, the IT department actually had a couple of people to introduce, and since I work closely with one of them, I thought it would be nice to go.

The food is always good. I should say, the desserts are good. I don't eat anything else. Cheese? Fruit? Who needs it, there are mini cheese cakes and chocolate!

Anyway, the people that get hired here most often are fresh out of college or grad school or something and they always have this huge list of awards, fellowships, grants and the like. And everyone takes it so seriously. Like, I went to an Ivy League school, graduated top of my class, had a fabulous internship somewhere impressive, got some great grant, wrote some very important paper and now, you lucky people, I have chosen to work here. Mostly it just makes me sick to my stomach, because it seems like a good chunk of those people hold on to that for as long as possible.

I did feel bad for this one poor girl though. She was being introduced by her center director, and he says "Donna* comes to us from," and he pauses, looks at her and says "did you ever graduate from high school?" She shakes her head no. "Well, she might not have finished high school but Prestigious University was kind enough to admit her, where she had three majors." At this point, she's covering her face. Then he goes and adds a hobby, "she will enjoy drinking with her friends this weekend.... when she turns 21."

*not her real name (because I honestly don't remember it anyway)