I was able to ingest enough ibuprophen to get out and play tennis again last night. Same group of people that were there 2 weeks ago. We were playing doubles, men against the women. My partner, whos about my age, took a nasty spill. He didn’t trip, his leg just gave out on him when he planted his feet. It was scary. Now I know why everyone looked so scared last night.
I did an odd thing at work the other day. I was talking on the phone to a female coworker, a peer, she supervises one of the other departments and we report to the same boss. We were in the midst of two days of training sessions, as in we were the trainers. It’s an information dump that we had to throw together very quickly, partially because we were promised revised materials that showed up only a couple of days before the deadline. It was pretty tough, since it was a lot of really dull information, and our teams can really get off on tangents. This woman, we’ll call her G, was born to teach, and she really kind of took over the project. They were so happy that I would handle the setting up of the AV stuff, that I got off pretty easy on the presentation part. Although in the first session, I couldn’t get my aging laptop to boot up for the first 45 minutes. Then one of the artists got it started during a break. What he did made it look like I didn’t have it plugged in, but that’s definitly not the case. Anyway G really came through in this situation.
We’ve been through some tough situations together, software rollouts and publishing deadlines and layoffs and the nastiest of personnel issues. We are the ‘oraganizationally challenged’ ones on our team and we like to get together and comiserate about our shortcomings in the corporate world. We’re close but it’s all absolutely professional. So I’m talking to her on the phone about our plans for the final day of the training and we’re reassuring each other that it’s all going to go fine. We said goodbye and as i’m signing off I said, spontaneously, “I love you.”
WTF? Where did that come from?!? And this is someone who used to really annoy me in meetings. And I’m pretty sure there’s no physical attraction from either side. I mean, I really think of her as a pal, but geez that’s so unprofessional, so un-Minnesotan. She didn’t say anything, and hasn’t since. She may not have even heard me. She may have already put the phone down. Odd. My wife tells me that often, “You’re odd.”
Related posts:
maybe she meant she loves you in a I’m-glad-you’re-my-friend-you-make-working-here-bearable-thanks-for-your-help-on-the-presentation-thanks-for-listening-to-me-complain-we’re-so-much-alike-you’re-a-really-great-guy-and-you-really-understand-me kind of way?
i say i love you to the husband every time we talk on the phone. sometimes when i’m talking to a guy friend on the phone, i find those words on the tip of my tongue. it is an unconscious thing, i think. like pavlov’s dog. hear familiar male voice, say i love you.
dnw: I’m the one that said I love you.
And I guess I meant it that way though.
But SG is right too, It was kind of a Pavlovian thing. Female voice, helping me through tough times…..I must have thought I was talking to my wife.
Actually, I think it’s odd NOT to say I love you to people. Our culture just has some kind of “be careful not to reveal your true feelings” virus. Recently, I had a similar experience with one of the doctors I work for. We’ve developed this kind of jovial relationship (mostly because that’s the way he is) and he brings me lots of work to do. I was in the hospital gift shop thinking about entirely something else and on my way home one day when he came walking up in his OR scrubs and made some kind of joking remark and threw out his arm, and without thinking I gave him a hug. WTF??!! Nobody’s said anything about it since, and frankly I don’t care. Whatever it was, it was a natural instinct. How often do I let those out in public! So be glad you said it. The world needs to hear those magical 3 words way more often than it does.
Ya probably meant it at that moment. It’s not that odd.
d’oh — it was early when I read it. Okay, then maybe YOU meant it that way?
not a bad phrase as long as the context is understood. The context is often misunderstood.
Did you hear about the Minnesota Norwegian farmer who loved his wife so much he almost told her.
Hahah, oh damn. That reminds me of something I read or saw on TV not too long ago. Hell if I remember exactly what it was . . . but it–wait! I think it was The Onion. Something like Office Worker Inadvertently Closes Phone Conversation to Co-Worker with ‘I Love You.’
So how about that? You’re a living satire. Hahahah.
you’re odd…
haha… whoops… shoulda added “man!”
Anne has a co-worker also named Ann, and on the phone she sounds a little bit like Anne… so one day (see this coming?) Ann picked up my call and said “pre-admission, Ann speaking” and I jumped right in there with my best Barry White “Hey baby, wha’s happenin’?”
hilarity ensued. Ann told Anne later that it sounded kinda nice.
I feel obligated to tell you that I have been retained to represent G. in this matter. Please make out a large check to me along with your first-born child and we will not be obligated to pursue this unfortunate incident in court.
Heh. You never told me that over the phone. You little bitch.
Maybe it was a little foot-in-mouth. 🙂
Odd is good. Maybe you were just feeling very connected to this person. I think we use those words for many different emotions – not necessarily just for “I want to spend the rest of my life with you” or “will you please get naked with me”.