Life As A Corporate Gopher

so this morning the phone rang and it was mr. perfect. supposedly he was running late and wasn't going to have time to pick up presentation booklets for a client meeting and wanted me to get them from our printer, whose building is located within walking distance of ours, but it's actually easier to drive over, especially if you have to lug stuff back.

i get to the office pretty darn early, which is great from a parking perspective. i have my usual spot, kinda close to the building, yet under a tree for shade. and i don't really want to lose my spot. and the walking over wasn't that bad, but hauling the box back, which was heavy, was a suckfest. and it was so nice that one gal saw that i was struggling and still didn't hold the door for me.

so when i got to the elevator one of the department heads that i am familar with and this other lady said something to the effect of, "man that box looks heavy." and what i should have said was, "yay, but it's no big deal" in my usual sugar-syrupy cheery fake voice.

instead i replied, "yay, well one of my coworkers thinks i'm his lackey." needless to say they both quickly switched the topic to the hot weather. sorry, but i was pissed.

the deal is, mr. perfect had plenty of time to pick up his books for the meeting. he didn't need me, whatsoever, to do his gopher work. but that's not the point for mr. perfect. nope. he was laying another trap to see if i would hem and haw and refuse to do his grunt work. which of course i couldn't. because if i balked i can guarantee he would rat me out, if he hasn't already, to my boss.

this is when being a lackey / peon is really tough. because you're stuck no matter what you do. you have to do the bidding of people above you or you're seen as someone with an attitude. everyone has parts of their job they don't like or think that is beneath them. no job is perfect (unless you're a major movie star / celebrity) and there's always going to be things you don't enjoy--that's why it's work. hopefully the good outweighs the bad.

i just hate when i feel belittled by the people i work with. and that, in my opinion, is what happened today. because it wasn't about whether i would or could do the shit job. it was about mr. perfect throwing out bait and seeing if i would step in or avoid the trap.

yay, i have to be grateful that i have a decent job. and i am. it's just days, no weeks like the last few, that make me want to burrow into the earth.