Wow! A Meet-Up with Co-Workers!

Friday, my boss at my new job (since April) invited all of us to an outdoor Happy Hour at a local bar. 

#1: It was very nice to meet people that I'd only been editing for (and never seeing) for the past 4 months. I'd met my boss and one tech-guy back in April, but that was all.

#2: In the 5-and-a-half years that I worked at my old job (2014 to 2019), we had a yearly catered Christmas dinner at work, but other than that, none of us ever met outside of work to socialize. There was one lunch that one scientist invited a few of us to after we'd finished working on his report. Which was really nice of him. Other than that: I edited a damn 400-page book during my time there---at the end of a VERY long slog: nothing. 

I'm not extremely social, but I do very much appreciate a send-off for work well done. My last job: The boss always tried to present herself as "laid back." She was indeed "laid back"---in the sense that she never oversaw the work. And if someone like me mentioned that work wasn't getting done, she'd blow me off as a "trouble-maker." But still... You'd think someone like that would at least be more attuned to celebrating the final result of a major project... Nope. Nothing.

Also: In my 5 years from 2014 to 2019 at the old job, I had multiple personal conversations during the day with various co-workers. But never a lunch with anyone. That was extremely weird to me. My previous long-term job was at a publishing company, from 1998 to 2006 (before I moved to NYC): At that place, I constantly had lunches with co-workers, and our bosses took us to multiple group lunches (and special events like bowling and movies during the day).

So after over 5 years of NOTHING, plus the few months after Wuhan started in mid-March: I'm VERY grateful for my current boss's efforts to help socialize the work-team. I had a good time Friday. It was nice to get out of the house and meet people, and drink and talk with them. It turned out well. It made me feel like I was SANE again: Yes, people at work go out after work and talk! (Just not at the 2014 to 2019 sick place that I was at.)