I dropped in at my old office today. Almost all my former colleagues were still around. There were not as many new faces as I may have expected. A couple of new cubicles had been constructed, but 'my' coffee mug was still around.
I should have felt at home. But I didn't.
The whole place seemed to have changed beyond recognition. Everyone was so cynical, and patronising. Nobody seemed passionate about what they were doing. The Energy I so loved about the place was missing.
Can so much change in just three months? Or was it me that has changed?
_____
A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.
17 comments:
Rayna - I think that new jobs, new experiences, etc., do change people. Perhaps not at the core, but they affect one. It may just be a case of you evolving. Thomas Wolfe wrote a book called You Can't Go Home Again. I wonder if he has a point...
The answer is probably that both you and those at the job have changed. It's easy to become cynical when you get in the rut of doing something.
That's a good question. I think you've changed but for the better. People who stay at the same places probably don't change as much as those who move on and gain new experience. That's my opinion only.
CD
oh, I wonder if this is a true story? I never know when your drabbles are truth or fiction.
Either way, YES. I think this very much can happen. Esp if it follows visiting small villages w/no electricity~ :o) <e
Things always look different depending on whether you're an "insider" or "outsider." You were once an insider at the office, but now you're an outsider. That's how it goes for everyone, I think.
I also thought of Wolfe's book, You Can't Go Home Again. There's always an invisible wall filled with Time. Everything looks different through the prism.
Rayna, What's missing is you. When a positive outlook leaves negativity makes its move.
Chin up!
I agree with Mary. Maybe you were what gave the office it's positive outlook.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Interesting question! Maybe they were always that way and it was harder to tell because you were accustomed to it?
In my lifetime, I discovered I can never go back to anything because it’s never the way my mind remembers it – sometimes it’s better and sometimes worse.
Wow, that must have been disconcerting! Maybe your positive energy is what the place needed. Hmmm.
B
The Middle Ages
I suspect you are the one that changed or perhaps as someone else suggested without you there people are less polite/energetic.
The one thing that never changes...is change. People are always changing. If you are with them everyday you change at the same rate and don't notice.
So the answer is both!!!
I think it was a bit of both. Sad that it turned out that way.
As L.P.Hartley says, 'The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.'
Change is continuous, often subtle, sometimes dramatic. And as many readers here have said, it can strike you more when you've been away.
They do say you should never go back (whoever 'they' might be). I've visited places where I used to work and houses where I used to live and it feels odd because you no longer belong and yet you were once so very involved. That's why you should never go back.
@ Margot- I rarely re-visit places I have fond memories of, but this has been only two months!
@ Wanda- or maybe I was cynical too, and so didn't notice others who were
@ Clarissa- you have a point. Even the act of deciding to change things changes you
@ Leigh- true, true, very true.
I guess I have just seen too much in the last few weeks.
@ Debra- sure looks that way, because two months is too short a time for so much to have changed
@ Kittie- "invisible wall filled with Time" so beautifully put
@ Mary- thank you for saying that, but I am sure that is not it.
@ Mason- wouldn't I love to believe it, but I am sure not. Thank you, though
@ Elizabeth- I think you have nailed it.
@ Jane- absolutely. But this time, the time period is so short, it wa a rude shock
@ Barbara- wouldn't I love to believe it!
@ Holly- I too think I have evolved. And I am glad I have.
@ Theres just life- that is true, and it does answer it.
@ Oddyoddyo13- very sad, because I did like the old place too.
@ dipali- so very true. I guess we have both just evolved, and in different ways
@ Rosalind- yes, I never go back to a place I lived in and which I love. Too many ghosts
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