Dignitaries

Here is a picture of me on my last day of work. This picture will have particular meaning to Ambrosia and anyone who ever worked with me who was forbidden to sit in these awful chairs.

You see, at my previous place of employment, our company rented space from another company that owned the building. I should be very clear with you that the building (which I have called a cement bunker) is not pretty. It is not a place where you want to bring people. It is not decorated nicely on the inside. It's junky and old. There. I said it. And I'm in no danger of losing my job because of it.

Well, the other company has about five or six hideous turquoise leather chairs in a hallway that I suppose they thought doubled as a reception area. No one is ever received in this area. When Ambrosia and I first started working there, we were informed that the chairs were off-limits to student employees.

Later at a meeting, a supervisor made it clear to everyone that the other company had been complaining about student employees using the chairs. We were not allowed to use them. Period. We were specifically not allowed to sit in them while we waited to leave, sit in them while we talked on cell phones, sit in them to do homework, or sit in them and sleep. Off-limits. The other company said that those seats were there for visiting dignitaries.

Visiting dignitaries. What a joke! None of us had ever seen any visiting dignitaries.

Well, before I left, I had the chance to see visiting dignitaries in our building. There was a small group of Japanese dignitaries who had come to visit. However, they were not using the chair. They were standing in a row by the door and when I approached, they opened the door for me and then bowed as I walked through it.

And I thought, "Hey. I could really get used to this dignitaries thing..."

7 comments:

Nemesis said...

I hope you farted in the chair for good measure!

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to comment so it wouldn't say "1 people love me" anymore. That was bugging me.

My favorite visitors were the wolf spiders and stinkbugs, personally.

Nectar said...

One of the amazing things I've learned over the course of the four decades I've worked is that the less you are paid, the harder you work, and the less respect you get from the company.

Now, if I had my company the greatest would be the servant of all. Wait, I think I just figured out Who I should work for.

ambrosia ananas said...

Bahahahaha! You're fired!

Anonymous said...

That is an ugly chair. Good thing you're in the picture or it would have been so ugly I might have puked on the keyboard or something.

The real reason I posted was because the word verification word is so awesome: xglgjaax. In wiggly green font. It's like the name of the bad guy in a sci-fi B movie.

Melyngoch said...

"Dignitaries" is actually kind of a funny word. I'm not sure it's possible to use it in a serious context. I like it. I think I'll incorporate it into my syllabus.

Natalie Gordon said...

You make that chair look good. BTW, you should have told the Japanese Dignitaries that the company they were visiting is run by a bunch of bossy-chair-hogging-stuck-up jerks. They probably would have taken their business elsewhere - somewhere with a more liberal chair policy.