Life Stories
I am in Cancun as part of a work event for my husband and spouses were invited and accomodated. As I’ve been out of the corporate world for a couple of years since having kids, it’s been interesting being back and as a spouse instead of an employee. My husband is in a very male dominated industry and I owuld guess 95% of his colleagues are all male. That means that I get to meet and chat with the wives. It’s interesting to note that as a first step in getting to know new people we all start with finding the common threads: where do you live or have lived and are there any locations in common, do you have kids and what are their ages, what is your husband’s function at the event/business, are you a regular at these things. Then if you appear to be in any way compatible, you move onto discussing your careers/jobs, hobbies, a family member’s serious medical conditions… It’s always the same. While I am enjoying meeting so many new people, it’s an interesting phenomena to have the same conversation over and over again.
I just had breakfast with my husband’s boss’s boss’s wife (got that?) My husband is a mid-level director and so he is in the middle of the food chain and I just had lunch with one step removed from the top. We both didn’t have breakfast companions and had met the day before and were at the restaurant at the same time. I was so thrilled to have someone to eat with and to have my well-practiced get to know you conversation with. I didn’t even worry about the “food chain” as my lunch companion was interesting and very nice. I’m sure it will get back to my husband’s boss’s boss and I guess it can’t hurt eating “up” versus “down.” I am guessing spouses do play a part in the politics of the business world. Ah, office politics, how much do I not miss you.
Now while this had nothing whatsoever to do with reading, I did manage to find a title to this post that does. As I own this blog, I say that counts!
April 17th
Print Reading List
- How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, MD (PRINT) finished in the hotel room
Approximate print reading time: 1 hour
First let me say, I am so jealous that you are in Cancun. In 20 months I have yet to have a completely child free day let alone a whole vacation. It’s also been a long while since I’ve gone on a business function with my husband, but I do know exactly what you are talking about. It’s a hodge-podge of women forced to get to know each other and trying to find common threads of interest or life experiences. Sometimes it’s a pleasant gathering and sometimes there’s just no connection and you pray the moment ends quickly so you can go to your spa treatment or back to your room for a nice coffee and a book.
And yes, I’m in agreement that spouses do matter and have a slight influence on how one’s significant other is viewed in the corporate world.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:46 am