Glass Half Full

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I know some of you have wondered if I am blowing off the blogging.  Not true!  I am re-entering the blogosphere on today, May 6 to say that I am BACK.  It may take 2 posts a day to catch up to where I left off, but the Scotland trip was a good reason to fall off the blog wagon.

That said, I saw this on the way in to work Wednesday.  Now, some of you may just see a truck, but I see a smiley face.  Some would call that seeing the world as a glass half full.  Always looking at things positively.  And to this point, I wanted to bring up a situation that happened to me a few years back.  I got written up at work for having a glass half empty attitude.  I refused  to sign this assessment by my boss at the time.  Ultimately, I quit the job over this.
Number one, he could give me NO concrete situation or issue reported by anyone, it was just something he "noticed". Worse, there was no way to correct or stop whatever behavior he was "noticing".
Number two, at the time, I was working 80 hour weeks for this company/man.  I was exhausted and frankly, did not always have a bright shining smile on my face.
Number three, and this is the kicker, my father had cancer, and was currently living at my house going through 7 weeks of daily radiation treatments for it at Emory.  I was really worried about him, and scared I would lose him to this awful disease.  Work and my 80 hour work regime seemed trivial to me at this juncture in life.

I am not one to make excuses for a "bad attitude" which was the assessment and the point from my boss.  Even though he knew all of this about me, he chose to write me up for something that was not tangible in my work ethic or delivery.  This is why I refused to sign it.  I did acknowledge that I was not the happiest I had ever been in my life.  Truth be told, I was worn out from STRESS.  This is the first and only time I ever quit a job without having a job.  (although I had a job within 2 weeks of quitting) This boss was flabbergasted by me not wanting to sign the sheet (that would go in my employee file).  My point in sharing this situation with you is this:  Just because someone is curt, snippy or lacks enthusiasm - you have to cut them some slack, give them the benefit of the doubt because you may not know what they are going through.  Also, most people see me as happy go lucky, and when I am not, they know something is truly not right.  Thank the Lord my dad recovered.  I am back to my goofy, offbeat POSITIVE self.  The impact here is Stand up for what you know is right! And remember, smiley faces are everywhere, you just have to look for them.

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