Last week was not a great week. Specifically, Thursday was not a great day. In fact, it was a down-right shitty day. Things went wrong all day and culminated in crying in front of my manager on a Teams call, which was extremely frustrating and embarrassing. I was crying because I was angry and upset and then all the rest of it came pouring in on top and just made it worse: worry and stress and sadness and fear and all the emotions this past year has been piling on top of me. UGH. To make things even worse, poor Anders was working from home that ONE day out of the last three weeks and was sitting across from me at the table when I lost it. Poor guy remedied that immediately by going into the office the next day again. Suffice to say, work is hard right now and I’m struggling. Most of the time, I manage just fine, but sometimes the dam, literally, breaks.
Yesterday went better thankfully, and late in the day, I had a really funny moment with one of my colleagues that ended my week on a brighter note.
We got a request from a Canadian marketing colleague (CMC) asking for this, emphasis mine:
—
2 social images required – Dimensions 1200×627 pixels
Text to read:
D&I Fireside Chat
Culture + Gender + Sexuality – Connecting Your Identities in the Workplace
Date/Time, Register Now
Image recommendations: Something that shows people with cultural/ethnic and LGBT diversity. Ideally something in a workplace.
—
It made me laugh. I had the following exchange with the US designer (USD) in the ticket (he can’t see these comments):
Me: Curious as to how CMC thinks we should show people with “LGBT diversity” …drag queens? Rainbow shirts? Unicorn horns? 😀
USD: Hahaha, so true? How on Earth do you show that? He should pick an appropriate image because I have no idea what it would be. For the record, I vote for unicorns!
Me: I suppose same-sex couples kissing would be outside our creative expression…unless of course they’re bathed in golden sunset light** 😀
USD: OMG Liz, I’m belly laughing!! Bathed in golden sunlight, bawhahahahahaah!
Me: NAILED IT https://www.istockphoto.com/se/foto/homosexuella-par-gm1264272426-370239905
USD: I’m now crying and choking on my cracker! OMG, it’s perfect!
Me: Shall I send that as a suggestion in the ticket to CMC? Double dog dare me, PLEASE
USD: *obviously not understanding I was kidding* Holy crap, YES PLEASE! I triple dog dare you!!!!!
Me: DONE
USD: No way!?
Me: IT WAS A TRIPLE DOG DARE
😀
I wrote in reply to him in the ticket:
Hi CMC!
Curious as to how you think we should “show people with LGBT diversity”… would this image work? 😀 (same link as above)
And he answered, all serious, that he didn’t think that image was appropriate and we need a work setting, and he understands it’s tricky.
To which I replied: IT WAS A JOKE, CMC. 😀
I screenshotted*** the entire exchange to Martin and he, too, was amused, and responded: “How DO you represent the lgbts through stock workplace imagery?? Just a picture of a guy typing, but he has an earring?”
HAHAHAHAHA
Anyway, now it’s the weekend and I’m taking a mental break from everything. I slept in, read for a bit, did some quick clean-up jobs, ate lunch and now I’m going to go for a walk. The sun is shining though there are a lot of big fluffy clouds in the sky and it’s quite chilly. Since I got everyone’s US taxes and FBARs dealt with, the only things on my to-do list are spring-cleaning jobs and if I don’t feel like doing them this weekend, I damn well won’t.
*Abraham Lincoln, who had way more cause for a breakdown than I do.
**Inside joke, sorry: a lot of imagery we use at work has golden sunset light pouring over everything.
***screenshote? screenshat?