Goody-Goody

Perception is a funny thing. My workplace has recently been trying to hire a new employee to work in our front office. This would hopefully alleviate the stressful workload that is currently left on me and just one other woman. This has led to quite a bit of discussion with my current coworkers about how another personality might fit into things.

It's not exactly your typical office. Things run well and are very professional in front of customers, of course. But amongst ourselves, it reminds me a bit of being in stage crew in high school when I was the only girl along with 26 guys. Vulgar and hilarious. We would appear to be quite an odd bunch to an outsider but honestly, some of the people there are the only thing that keeps me sane day to day.

This was all a preface to how I found out a different coworker felt about me. I was talking to C, who I work with daily, about how the new person would fit in. She told me that someone at one of our other offices once told her that she thought I was a Molly Mormon. For those not from around here, that's a generally negative slang term that means someone is a super churchy goody-goody.

Goody-goody is defined as "a well-behaved person with no obvious human failings, with the possible exception of smugness and self-satisfaction." I'll pause here while I give the people who know me a chance to pick themselves up off the floor after laughing so much. My initial reaction was laughter as well. As was C's. Since she is around me every day and hears the words that come out of my mouth, she found it quite humorous.

I actually felt a little proud that I'm apparently so skilled at deception that I'm able to give off this vibe of being perfect. Lol. I could count on both hands the number of times I've ever talked to this woman face to face, since there isn't a need for much interaction between offices. So I suppose I can see how she doesn't really know me at all and shyness is possibly interpreted as innocence of some sort. I guess it could be considered a good thing that I can appear detached and professional at work. I certainly don't want all of those people in my personal business, after all.

At my first ever SCONY weekend, I was nervous as hell. I'd talked to people online for months before flying out there to make it to a party, but it was still nerve-wracking. What is everyone going to be like in person? Are they going to like me? What if I'm too shy and don't know what to say to people? Fortunately it was a wonderful group of people and I was surprised at how quickly I felt welcomed and at home. But even so, it took a little while to get warmed up to everyone. (no pun intended)

On several different occasions, I was spanked for having "Eddie Haskell syndrome." It's okay, I had to Google it too. He's a little kid from an old show called Leave It To Beaver who was the ultimate goody-goody. Clearly, this was still in the very beginning when I was generally quiet and pretty terrified to do anything wrong because I was figuring out how things worked. By the end of the weekend, I was being spanked for being such a sarcastic smartass. My personality eventually emerged. If you are thinking I haven't been accused of having "Eddie Haskell syndrome" since then, you'd be correct.

This recent comment has made me think about snap judgements, something I've been guilty of making myself. If you haven't ever had a real conversation with a person, how do you know what they're like? Being shy shouldn't be mistaken for being a snob. Being quiet and thinking things out before adding to a conversation doesn't mean that one doesn't have an opinion. Being tall doesn't mean that I'm a damn top! Being a sarcastic smartass with a dark sense of humor doesn't mean that I'm not also a caring person. Who would guess that quiet little Lea plans all her vacation time around parties where she receives a very sore bottom from some good friends? I'm probably a good example of why you shouldn't judge someone you don't know. Because you'd be wrong.

And for the real goody-goodies out there, hey, good for you! Good girls need spankings too!