The Work Out

Something terrible happened outside of work on Friday. I was spotted by a co-worker.

There has only been one other time when I had seen a fellow employee outside of working hours. I was at the grocery store, and immediately turned around when I spotted her and walked the other way. There's no reason to interact off hours, especially if she's not one of my friends.

I always joke that work isn't real life, and my real life does not involve my work. Who I am at work is not who I am as a person. I'm not a receptionist, I'm not categorized as someone who answers phones, and I'm slowly beginning to realize that I'm not this negative person that I started believing I was.

I'm happy. I'm fun. And I'm both of these things a lot more when I'm not working. And honestly, who isn't?? One reason I believe I'm happy is because I work out regularly and I feel like that releases all my stress. I go every day after work, and Friday I was off to a boot camp styled step class. It's hard. It's an advanced class and not a lot of members take it. I walk in, I'm greeted by my gym buddies and as I'm grabbing my step I hear the worst thing I could possibly hear.

"RUBY??????!!!!!!?????? what are you doing here?!?!"

Why is that terrible, you ask? Yes, that's my name, but I'm only called Ruby at work. All my friends and family call me Roo. It all plays into part that work is not my real life. So I knew the second I heard "Ruby" it was a co-worker and my smile faded.

"Oh, hi Jean"

Jean's a nice lady. She's an EA, so I interact with her both as a receptionist and as someone that orders and delivers food for meetings. (Yeah, there's still no title change...) It's not that I don't like her, it's just that this is MY class. MY gym. MY secret little retreat.

So naturally, what did I do? I showed off. And of course, this was the class where the instructor decided that we needed to do a thousand lunges and squats. And what was that? Yes, you are going to do step, while holding weights. And, hell, let's throw some kickboxing moves in there as well.

I was a sweaty disaster, but I was nailing every move. I may have been stuck on my couch the next day because I was sore but it was worth it. Jane came up to me afterwards and said how great it was that these classes are offered after work hours and how she can't wait for the next one.

Mmhmm...

She hasn't been there this week yet, so there's hope she might not take the same classes as me. At first I was thinking how I hope she doesn't come back, but then again, being the brat that I am, this means I will show off and work out harder every time she's there.

Bring it on, Jean!