I am no High Class Person!

Listen to this article

Why I Hate "High Class" Functions
I may not be in top management but in my line of work, I have my fair share of "rubbing shoulders" with some people from relatively "high" places. And you know one of the reason why I really hate going for such "high class" functions is the fact that I feel so uncomfortable and dislike all the "fakeness" around...

The "High Class" Ritual
People clad in suits and evening gowns, pretending to be on good terms with everyone (even though they may hate the other person's guts and speak negatively behind his/her back), approaches the person, shaking his/her hand and proclaiming "hey! nice to see you, how have you been? blah blah blah..." at the same time trying to act professional, prim and proper and observing the many social etiquette that would present one as "high class".

"High Class" but Fake doesn't Appeal to Me
Well, I came from one such event today and felt so uncomfortable I just withdrew "to one small corner" and did not speak much... I just feel so overwhelmed with so much ingenuineness around... the decor may be nice, the programme successfully executed, the gifts wonderful but somehow, something is missing... the genuineness. I must admit... I am no high class person. Given a chance, I would choose not to attend such functions. Kinda remind me that I must never fall into the same trap of organizing successful but fake large-scale volunteer appreciation events, missing the real meaning of having the event in the first place.

Repulsive Woman
To make things worse... I met a lady which I have almost forgotten that I detest her... Yes, may God forgive me, I detest her... Very much repulsive because I remembered being "reprimanded" by her before despite not being her staff and I have this feeling that she looks down on people. Big size lady power dressed with scarf and with very heavy make-up and dark green eye shadows... she would literally walk past you, without even acknowledging you, if you are someone not important, to shake hand with someone who is from "high places" standing behind you. I do not know why I detest her so much but maybe because she told me off before for something minor (and she not even my superior or even working with me) and because of the way she behaves that somehow puts me terribly off.

Source: MobileFun

Blessing of Nice People
In contrast to these people, my boss, who was sitting with me on the same table, really stood out. A friendly, genuine (though serious) lady really seem a farcry from these people and this has somehow made me appreciate my boss more and thank God for blessing me with such a boss. I also thank God for blessing me with wonderful colleagues who are as nice as could be, sheltering me from all those scary politics, hypocrisy and ingenuineness. Call me simple but being a "discoverer", this is one area I would rather not set my foot in and hope to never encounter the need to set my foot in.

Angry People x 2
I met 2 angry people today and despite the fact that I am not the cause of their anger, it has somehow affected my day. The 1st was encountered at work and I was kind of shocked when she interrupted a meeting I was in and kinda confronted us. This kind of burst my bubble of being around nice people and reminded me that I still have to be careful not to step on others' toes. I am still glad that my immediate colleagues are nice, understanding, sensitive etc people :)

I encountered the 2nd at the "high class" dinner this evening. He is the boss of my former workplace and came over to sit beside me to chit-chat. After a while, I kind of get the idea where the conversation was going and get the idea that he wanted to ask for some IT support and "consultancy" work given my experience of working there. I had previously declined and mentioned that I am not comfortable to commit because:

1. I did not want to overpromise and underdeliver, which would be unfair to him. I have basically just started my work and with all the work and projects, I just don't think I have much energy to commit volunteering there (and ironically I am a volunteer coordinator, encouraging others to volunteer).
2. I did not want to be unfair to my organization and boss since I might be devoting a bit of attention on external commitments, even though it is outside of work hours.
3. There are still some people whom I have had bad working relations before and I just do not want to be a hypocrite and work with them again, pretneding nothing has happened.
4. I am not sure how my involvement will be perceived by staff since what I will be doing coincides with one of the job functions undertaken by a staff.
5. I feel I am not able to contribute much since I am now an outsider and may not have the insight needed for the work which needs to be performed. The work also requires someone to constantly work on it full-time so that it is aligned with the organization's goals and objectives and I do not think I am the right candidate.
   

I shared this with that person and somehow I think he took offence and abruptly ended the conversation and went back to his seat. Seriously, although I suspected that he is unhappy, it didn't really occur to me that he is upset until I called him later and he apologized for his action earlier.

Think he is too stressed at work, managing the expectations of so many people and feel unsupported. I felt the same way when I was the only executive staff in that organization then and felt like the whole world was coming down on me, making all kinds of expectations and I just feel unsupported. Somehow, I can emphatize with how he felt and can kind of understand why he reacted in that way. I nonetheless assured him of my support but told him I can only support within reasonable limits; more of backend nature kind of work and if it does not affect my work.