Connie You Piss Me Off Sometimes...........

This week David with his Weekend Wandering asks "How Do You Choose Your Friends?" I feel that friendship is something that happens as you get to know people, usually when there is some kind of common ground, such as children or pets or hobbies. I feel there is a kind of chemistry that bonds people.

Some friendships fizzle out as people grow in different directions. Some times that is sad, but sometimes it can be a relief when one or the other drops away.

Although I have made dozens of acquaintances, I can count on one hand true friendships that are highly valued. These are the kind that give and take and are somehow made of cement!

Blogging has given me lots of virtual friends and I am truly overawed by the people I have got to know through this fairly new hobby. Even with this, some friends seem closer than others. It is a great hobby and I hope that it will continue to blossom. I feel I really know you all!

I had already prepared this account of a recent day at work with Connie and thought I would let every one know how it feels when a friendship is not perfect! A working relationship can be with some one that you'd never really give a second glance to outside the job or it can develop into true friendship. I have a certain affection for Connie but have no desire to see her outside work although she has tried to arrange meetings before. (I am not very nice!)

I have worked with Connie for a long time. I know she means well and can be a really sincere and kind person but she can also really put her foot in it!

The very fact that I am writing this makes me somewhat annoyed with my self. After all, its not very pleasant running down a work colleague, but it is my blog and I need the therapy of writing this down and getting it off my chest!

At the best of times, Connie can be irritating. She has the habit of asking me at least six times an hour if I am alright! I have repeatedly assured her that I am and that she doesn't need to ask again that day.

"Are you alright?" she starts. I usually smile & nod or make some facial gesture that I am indeed OK! But that isn't good enough. She will then go on, "Do you hear that, Maggie? Are you alright?" I might make another gesture that I am. She will then come over and hit my arm for attention. "I said are you alright, Maggie?"

"Yes." I reply, "I am alright." Under my breath I am thinking "Or at least I was until you started this!"

"Pardon?" she shouts. She is a little deaf.

"I AM FINE," I shout back, trying not to show my irritation.

Connie has the habit of going on about my age. She is eleven years younger than me. She talks to me as though I am her mother and in fact, calls me "Mother" frequently. I have often assured her that I was a very good girl when I was eleven years old, so I could not possibly be her mother. I can laugh at this situation when I'm in the right mood and go a long with the joke. Only it isn't a joke- she seems to believe it. To hear her talk you'd think I was a hundred years old. Well, if I was, she'd be eighty nine!

Sometimes at work, its best to keep quiet about certain situations that might arise. Situations that we do not want to draw anyone's attention to. However Connie might say,"Why, what's the problem? Do you hear that Maggie? What is it? What's the secret?" She doesn't seem to see the eye rolling or the frantic, silent mouthing, "Tell you later" from the rest of us. Well I am sure you've got the picture by now.

The other day was hard for me as it was the day that our son in law was having the tumour removed from the back of his brain. I knew it was happening at the very same time I was working. The afternoon was dragging really unusually slowly. Everyone at work knows the situation, but I hadn't told any one that the operation was that day, least of all Connie. I just didn't want any one to know how or what I was feeling.

All my other working colleagues are great and respect my space, as they know what is going on in my life. Not that it affects my work in anyway, as I can lose myself in it, but that afternoon did drag on.

"Maggie," Connie piped up, "Your face is changing. You are definitely looking older!"

"We all are, Connie," I almost spat out.

"Are you feeling alright, Maggie?" she started yet again. "Maggie, I said are you alright Maggie?Maggie are you OK?"

Thank God I didn't have a sledge hammer in my hand!

Inside my head I am thinking,"Will you bloody well shut up!"