the world inside my head

my daily routine at work consists of chart pulling, phone answering, blog reading, other internet reading, and (of course) eating. during today's reading, i ran across this article which i felt was worthy of passing aong. for those of you not feeling the need to use my cute little link above, i'll give you the short version - there are 3 questions which everyone asks which are virtually never appreciated and are always annoying: 1) have you graduated yet? 2)Are you dating anyone? 3)When are you going to have a baby?

while i acknowledge that all of the above questions are probably being asked out of pure concern or curiosity, it doesn't make them any less annoying. it doesn't change the fact that it's the 97th time you've been asked that same question. and it doesn't change the fact that after you've given your 97th memorized answer, the questioner gives you that same sympathetic look and tries to give you some sort of consolation.

at this point i must add a 4th question which i understand, while it annoys me, probably does not annoy the majority of the population: 4) What are you doing now?/Where do you work? at this point in my life, when i answer, "a cardiology office" the next question i get is "oh are you a nurse there?" to which i say, "no i'm a receptionist." at this point i get the aforementioned sympathetic look which is accompanied by a quizzical look that usually means the questioner is asking him/herself "didn't she spend umpteen years in school? didn't she get a master's? why is she a receptionist? what do i say now?" at this point i feel obliged to make the questioner feel better so i make a joke and maybe follow it up with a few lines about future plans that do not include me being a receptionist.

at this point let me say that i like my job. it's a good job. i get bored & spend hours on end on the internet and i don't get paid much but it's a good job. i love my coworkers. i love the patients (especially the old ones). i love the old men that carry their wives purses and the old women who bring us homemade treats. the only thing i do not like are the people who treat me like i must have an IQ of 3 to be a receptionist and when i obviously lose the respect of the aforementioned questioners because i didn't say "oh i've got a job at the smithsonian, didn't you hear?"

as much as i try to rid myself of it, i fear that part of me will always be a people pleaser. ugh.

so read the article. laugh because you know exactly what i'm talking about. and if i ever ask you any of the aforementioned questions - slap me.