A Little Flirting Goes a Long Way

Christmas is around the corner, and departments are shuffling to host their annual Christmas parties... Our company is no different! We've had Ugly Sweater parties, Charlie Brown Christmas parties, Secret Santa parties. You name it, we've had it.

Nonetheless, these events consists of a bunch of jolly people spending hours in the kitchen the night before preparing potluck dishes. Now I'm no fan of potlucks due to an issue at my last company's holiday party, but I participated again this year. Hey, it's free food!

Anywho, apparently the IT department at our company had a rather large party yesterday, the same time as our Secret Santa party. They were baking cookies in the dining kitchen, heating up platters. Mind you, a business is ran through this kitchen- it's our cafeteria! They were definitely violating... Well, we ran into the kitchen culprit on our way to warm my delicious mac and cheese when she stopped us to say "are you warming up food? Be careful because the chef is being a real asshole. He's been biting my head off left and right. He is NOT in a good mood today". I wasn't worried, Keith (the chef) lovesssss me...

Sure enough, as the violator watched from the hallway, I pranced into the kitchen, gave Keith my prettiest smile and prolonged the pronunciation of his name "Heyyy, Keeiiiiittttttttthhhhhhhhh! Do you think you could warm this up for me?"

"Of course! Anything for you". Kitchen culprit stormed off, and our party went off without a hitch!

Girls, you better learn how to friendly flirt at work ;-)

Love,

GAB
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Creeper Update

Well guess what... the creeper has left the building. Our company has now moved to a new location and within a week of us moving, he had put in his 2 weeks notice. I was overly excited about this until I learned that he lives in my neighborhood, and it is very possible that I may run into him outside of the work setting that may warrant even more awkwardness!

On a joyful note, GAB will be back in full effect after this week is over. I have a ton of things to do, including a major project, 2 final exams, my grandmothers retirement party, sorority initiation, dinners and game nights. Needless to say, there isn't much time in between to blog so I won't even commit to doing that for at least another week. Good news is, I'll be off of work from Christmas Eve through the Monday after New Years, so I'll have plenty of time to catch everyone up on my life, share some awesome stories, introduce new GAB features, and much, much more!

I Won 2 Blog Awards!

How shitty is it that I won a blog award wayyyyyyyy back in August and September, and I'm just now acknowledging them??? But better late than never right!

So here goes... I was awarded by It's All Random, who by the way has a bomb blog! Love it... and thank you!

I'm supposed to thank the person who awarded me, sum up my blog in 5 words, and nominate 10 other wonderful bloggers...

5 words to sum up my blog: SPORATIC, exciting, truthful, beneficial, inspirational!

10 other wonderful bloggers... (I'll get back with this, since I've been absent from the blogosphere)... I promise!

I was also awarded by my good friend Thoughts of a Randomista- love this chick! She gave me the BFF Award:

Excerpt about me for this award:

"The BFF award goes to my good friend Girl About Business. Gab is a really a great friend all around. If you need someone to rant to about work, relationships or just someone to kick the shit with, she's your girl! I love her blog because since her and I are in the same professional field, Gab gives good advice about what to do when you are in a weird position. Her stories are witty and hilarious. Plus, she was the first person who actually encouraged me to blog! Gab, thank you so much! I appreciate you!"

Thank you Boober!

Work Creeper

I must admit, I've never encountered a creeper in the workplace until now. I've known them to exist, but luckily never had to deal with one. You know, the person that makes you feel extremely awkward, that's undressing you with their eyes, making random conversation with you, being overly friendly to you opposed to other employees... Yea, that person!

Well, at my job we have a big finance team that consists of several small department, like payroll, accounts receivable, billing, etc. The departments obviously sit together, and the company has recently gone through some changes- merging with another company, integrating the two companies, bringing in new employees from the other location... Blah, blah, blah. Well, a lot of individuals on the finance team at the other location were offered positions within the new company and turned them down, with the exception of one person. THE CREEPER!

I got a weird vibe from him the very first time we had a finance team meeting, and he's been weird ever since. Let's start with the first encounter... "The waist side hello"- you know, when someone tries to get your attention by gently touching your waist. Usually done by someone that you know, or are close with. That wasn't the case. Instance #2... "The shoe compliment"- yes, he complimented me on my shoes and instantly my brain tracked back to that moment in Legally Blonde when Elle tapped her foot at the gay witness at the water fountain. Same thing went off in my head, until I overheard him talking about his children. Instance #3... "The i-don't-have-anything-else-to-say conversation" so he'll always make a point to ask me about my weekend. On top of that he pulled the race card on more than one occassion...

In so many words, he tells me that we're almost matching one day (when clearly, we weren't even remotely matching). Then he starts up this weird convo about how he's wearing the colors of his "homeland" (New Orleans clearly is a hometown, not a homeland!). He goes on to say that he shuld have been black; black men have it easier when it comes to going bald. If you didn't know by now, GAB is black, African American. Why would you make a comment like that?

Icing on the cake, this douche lord puts his arm up next to mine, starts talking about how he was upset that it rained this past weekend cause he couldn't lay in the sun... Followed by "I have some competition. I'm almost there", in reference to my complexion! OMG!

So now I'm to the point when I want to report him, at least to my manager. I'm sure she'll direct me to HR, but how- being the only black person on the finance team- can you "anonymously" file a complaint? Of course their going to use whatever I tell them in their case against him, and it will no longer be "anonymous"...

GAB needs major help! Anyone ever had to deal with this? How did you handle it?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Inspiration: Operation Beautiful

'm a big magazine reader, simply because I'm into fashion (although I'm not a trendsetter, and would rather blend in than stand out). That's definitely something that you guys didn't know about GAB. Anywho, I'm perusing through the September issue of Glamour Magazine when I come across an article that has inspired me. It is called Operation Beautiful, and it was started by Caitlin Boyle who battled with her weight and depression. Basically, she wrote a note to herself and to anyone else who might read it that said "You are beautiful"... simple and sweet :-) It helped her get through her roughest moments, and it serves as a spotlight for women and/or men who may be struggling with their appearance, have low self-esteem, or are simply having a bad day.

You can see below some of the notes that people are leaving across the world. I encourage everyone to join in on the movement. Grab a pad of Post-It notes and a sharpie marker, and start to grace everyone with your encouraging words!

Do it for you, for your coworker or boss, for your mother or sister, do it for your best friend or your worst enemy, do it for the young girl in school who "doesn't fit in", do it for the battered woman who can't leave an abusive relationship, do it for a stranger or a homeless person. The point is to do something that could be life changing, and join in on a positive revolution to encourage and inspire.

Here is the one I left in the women's bathroom at my job this morning!