I didn't go to the Temple last night, after all. Kassiana was fired on Thursday. I came in and found her packing up, spitting out horrific-sounding German expletives and darting fiery glances at us all. I was completely taken by surprise but in retrospect I can see it was inevitable. She was noisy, loud, positive she had the answer to everything, demanding, and took up a huge amount of psychic space in the office. I have friends just like this, so I wasn't particularly bothered by her personality. No big deal; you just work around the gigantic ego, and when everything blows up you keep calm, knowing it won't make a particle of difference after it's all over. I guess the others in the office weren't used to it, though.
What was interesting about her being fired was how immediately the rest of us closed ranks. My own reaction was to be polite but distant. She went from being one of us to being an outsider in nanoseconds. I'm not proud of this, I'm just reporting. Like a wall going up between us, I began to think of all the ways in which her leaving would be a good thing. I wasn't terribly sympathetic to her complaints. After all, I had my own butt to protect. Strangely, I didn't feel threatened in any way by the firing. My usual response is to assume I'm next. At this agency, though, I fit in. I won't be getting fired for my personality, which is most of what caused Kassi problems. This strikes me as incredibly weird. I, Ms. Freaky West Coast Chick, am more normal than someone else on the job.
Naturally, yesterday was insanely busy with only three agents to handle calls. I'm in hog heaven working on so many interesting itineraries. I've got trips to Lagos, Costa Rica, Aruba, Seoul, Moscow, and Bucharest to sort out, and I've finished up the Scotland F.I.T. (there's some travel agent lingo for you: Foreign Independent Travel) and various U.S. flights. Las Vegas packages were big this week, thanks to Southwest Airlines offering some outstanding 2 night deals from Nashville. Orlando was second, followed by assorted vacations to the Florida panhandle coast (aka the Redneck Riviera). I thrive on the variety and exotic destinations. Major, major vicarious travel thrills.
Of course, we know what will happen next, don't we? John will now get a job somewhere else, and I'll have to leave this wonderful new situation. Argh! I was right about me going back to work, though: work is definitely helping me feel less anxious about John's job search. I go up and down the mood spectrum less often, and I'm not investing emotional energy in specific job locations the way I was before. Ooh, that sounded so Californian. Uh, sorry. What I meant was, I got a grip. Now that is a great Southern term.
Y'all come back.
The IndexNext Entry