Crossing the t's and dotting the lower-case j's.

The other day while on my way to lunch, I spotted a girl who I have worked with in the past, but have never really connected with. For some reason she has always seemed a little stand-offish towards me; and while I have never fully understood why, I guess I have just always figured it had something to do with her temperament, or maybe because I am always staring at her lazy eye.

So, this day, in a move inspired by an uncharacteristic surge of goodwill, I smiled at her, patted her on the back and said: “Hello Coworker S! How are you doing today!”

At first there was an awkward pause, in which time I slowly lowered my hand from her shoulder very conscious of the fact that she was looking at me like I was a crazy person wandered in off the streets.

“”I’m Coworker K…” she replied.

At that point, I am sure my face took on its typical 'deer in headlights' expression as confusion washed over me like a large and unmanageable wave. It quickly dawned on me that she was either joking, or there were now two women working at my company who not only look eerily similar, but also who BOTH have lazy eyes.

Quickly, I tried to remove my foot from my mouth and say something witty and unfazed.

The best I could come up with was, “Oh I am so out of it…ha ha…..it must be because today is my birthday and…..oooh you know how it is once we get older…..”

She smiled at that, but there was sadness in her glance, and I think in that moment I detected a flash of pity there as well.

(This, of course, is not my coworker, but Igor from the classic film Young Frakenstein.)