Why People Pleasing is a Bad Idea: Most likely part of a 10 part series called "My Life"

Have you ever had a day when you just can't seem to say/do the right thing, no matter how hard you try? That would be today for me. It is only 8:02am CST, and I keep putting my proverbial foot in my mouth everytime I open it. I am really just trying to be nice and make it easier for everyone around me (lots of people are having bad days, or it looks like they could potentially have one; i am just trying to make their days better, honest!) by being sympathetic and trying to solve their problems. Apparently this is the wrong approach. . .

Exhibit A:
M is one of my good friends and she had a bad day yesterday as well. She called me last night, upset. She had also called another mutual friend of ours (we are our own little group). I would never betray the trust of one of my good friends. If you tell me something,I am not about to broadcast it to everyone ( I have friends that do this with stunning regularity. . ). I got on the bus to go to work this morning, and this mutual friend (herein referred to as "woot") got on the bus. I asked her if M had called her last night. She said that, yes M had called her. I made the mistake of assuming (putting the @$$ in you and me. . .)that M had talked about the same topics; she hadn't, so I guess I just inadvertantly betrayed M's trust. The whole idea here was to talk to woot to try and find good ways to take M's mind off of the upsetting situation this weekend. That was achieved (M and Woot are hanging out tonight, and M is hanging with me tomorrow), but I get in and M calls and is like, I can't believe you told Woot all about me and my issues! What is wrong with you? Sigh. . . I was just trying to help!

Exhibit B:
Coworker comes up to me and asks me if I handle a particular report. I didn't, but seeing as all I do all day is run/write reports, it was a valid question. I told him that it was other Coworker H's report. Bad news for him, he said. I know enough about Coworker H's report to know that this report issue could cause Coworker H, who is already moody, to be in a crap tastic mood all day. I decided to intervene and tell Coworker H, that there were some issues with his report. This is much nicer than getting the chew out email about your report failing from the client. At least in my opinion. I would have thanked Coworker H if the roles were reversed. Instead I got a scowl and some swearing. Now Coworker H isn't speaking to me and that stinks cause I sit right next to him.

I am officially done trying to help people out and make their day a little bit easier. From now on, if there is dog poo up ahead, go ahead and step in it. Don't get mad that I didn't warn you or try to direct you to another route!

Kick for a Cause

If anybody is feeling particularly generous, my company is involved in a charity called Ryno Kid Care, founded by Ryne Sanburg of the Cubs (Go Cubs Go!)for the benefit of terminally ill children and their parents. We are hosting a Kickball Extravaganza @ Grant Park this Saturday, and all teams participating (not me, i'm working on the setup and registration of players!)raised at least $1200.00. Still we are asking for more people to donate to this great cause. If your pockets are feeling deep, click here. If you are in the Chicagoland area, feel free to come out and watch the fun in Grant Park. There will be a beer tent, food and snacks, and the festivities start at 10am and go until 6pm. Maybe I will see you there!

Rothbury Green Initiatives- In your own backyard (cubicle)

I had originally intended to "tweet" and post from Rothbury, but my blackberry only picked up NPI (the bunk cell phone provider that my dear friend Amy always had to deal with when we were roommates @ MSU- it caused some expensive problems to say the least), so of course none of the data options worked and i could only text ppl that were like two feet away. so much for that. at least i wrote down little blubs on my arms, in my bag, on sugar cane plates :) I hope to make of of this into a decent post, but bear with me as i am still recovering from 4 days without any sleep. Totally worth it though; i will be back next year. In the meantime though, i have some lofty plans for this office. I sat in some of the think tanks @ Rothbury and got some fab ideas. Did you know that sugarcane plates cost less than paper plates AND are better for the environment (the break down into compost faster than paper and with less chemical impact)? That is just one example. Last week my office discontinued paper and insulated cups. I have heard people complain, but not too terribly. I take this as a sign that we have managed to promote some positive social change around here. I am going to talk to our HR person about replacing paper with sugar cane, and using recycled napkins. We are already in talks with Boise Paper (one of our clients, natch) to implement recycled TP in the bathrooms on our floor at least. This is a little bit trickier, as the building shares the same cleaning service and we have to convince them as well. Every little bit helps!

I hope to post more on the overall weekend, but i need to do two things first: upload my pictures (after charging camera) and get some sleep. I have failed miserably at both and i have been back since 3am on Monday. . . oops.

More to come. Please keep trying to do your own version of the 3 r's. . ..