You say you want a resolution....

Little Beatles reference for you there - sing along now!

After thinking and thinking about the way the situation with G-man was developing, I was starting to have serious reservations about the approach that had been identified – speaking with his supervisor and then having his supervisor deal with him. The reasons I was having reservations about this are not because I was worried about whether or not G-man would still like me or have high self-esteem or any of those things – to be honest, I don’t give a crap. However, the goal of all of this much-appreciated effort was to return my working environment to one that is professional, productive, and comfortable. Good goal, no?

Well, G-man being torn a new one by his boss was not likely to accomplish this goal, because someone who has no qualms about hitting on women he works with doesn’t exactly meet my standards of “professionalism”. And he would probably not think twice about taking it out on me for the rest of my time here, thereby making my working environment a great deal less comfortable and productive. It’s hard to explain what it is about him, but he is very concerned with appearances, appearing important, appearing as though he is all-knowing and all-powerful, etc. When I was at his office for a meeting last week and he had someone bring us lunch (vegetable patties), he berated the guy who brought in the food for putting a couple on each plate, instead of all of them on a platter so we could each take what we wanted. Once he was done yelling at this confused man, he turned to me and said “they just don’t know how to serve”, as if expecting me to sympathetically roll my eyes and make some comment about how it’s so hard to find good help these days and I just had the houseboy flogged for not doing a proper hospital corner on the sheets or something. Kind of like an intellectual Napoleon complex of sorts.

So my solution is this: if (when?) I receive my next “invitation”, I will clearly tell him myself that this kind of behavior is neither appropriate nor professional. If his behavior continues after that, I am fine with people speaking to his boss, because he will have been warned (not that he doesn’t already know better) and I will have zero sympathy. Not that I really have a lot of sympathy now, but hopefully you get my meaning. Besides, I am more comfortable playing an active role in this kind of situation, instead of the little girl who needs the big men to speak up for her. I can speak for myself, after all, I just need a little time to collect my thoughts sometimes. What has helped in all of this was knowing that I had support from my company and the project manager, and most importantly, my transition from being upset to being pissed off. I don’t like victim mentality and the “poor me, all these bad things are happening to me” that comes along with it, because it’s paralyzing and you convince yourself that you can’t do anything to change your situation. This is far more productive for me anyway.

While driving out to Clifton the other day, I spotted a sign that I couldn’t help but be amused by. It was a hand-painted sign mounted at an intersection, and it said “Dr. Tanveer’s Ultrasound and Mammography”, with a phone number below. Now, I’m sure that Dr. Tanveer is a very nice man, and that he’s got a good little practice going there. But it just looked a little too much to me like the Pakistani equivalent of “Dr. Bob’s Mammography Hut”, which would strike me as a little shady, and maybe not my first choice for medical care. Just sayin’. It’s the little things that amuse me, as someone in a foreign environment.

Life in Pakistan continues, and things appear to be okay these days. The weekend is coming (eventually), and I’ll be spending some quality time by the pool again. I’m also heading to a tailor to get some clothes made, which I’m really excited about. No word yet on Vietnam, but I’ve got my fingers crossed!