June Renew: Day Seven
Night Yowls
The news teams I’ve been on have predominantly featured women. This isn’t something specific to news, as it’s a pretty even mix between the genders. But women just seem to gravitate toward the morning shift. So you know what that means: catfights. And lots of them. Not so much anymore, but it’s a high-stakes jobs, tensions run hot, and the claws come out at the least opportune times.
I’m not innocent in any of this. I’ve been bitchy to my coworkers plenty of times. Usually during that time of the month, which sounds like an excuse to a man, but is an all-too-real feeling for the women. And it gets worse as you get older. There are days I want to rip someone, anyone’s head off, if only to make me feel better about my palpable discomfort. But I know this doesn’t foster a harmonious work environment, and it takes a tremendous strength of will to keep the lady emotions in check.
Seating Showdown
One of the worst fights I ever got into was with a girl who had just started at one of my previous shows. I thought she was a very good writer, as she definitely understood the concept of shorter and more concise scripts, but as I was training her on the ins and outs of our show, her attitude was coming off like she knew everything already. I don’t care how competent a writer you are, you’re not going to be a pro on a show if you’ve only been there for two weeks. I was younger and wasn’t as in control of my feelings as I am now, but I just made it a point to not hide how I was feeling about her. And by the way, I had just put in my two weeks because I had another gig lined up, so as far as I was concerned, she was about to be everyone else’s problem to put through the ringer.
We didn’t have specific assigned desks at this job, but everyone sat at the same desk each morning. I came in one of those mornings to find this girl sitting in the seat I had trained her from for two weeks. “Hey,” I said, “That’s my seat and I’d like to sit there, please.” She wouldn’t budge. In fact, she was defiant about it. “We don’t have assigned seats,” she said, then asked the head writer if we did to confirm. I thought she was joking, but quickly realized she wasn’t.
“But you saw me sitting there, I want to sit in my seat for the remainder of my time here.” She still wouldn’t move and told me to sit somewhere else. I loomed over her, wondering just what in the world was going on here. She again involved the head writer, who was seemingly as stymied as I was at this morning predicament. He sheepishly admitted there were no assigned seats, but that in my defense it had become mine. With her not budging, I made my stance known: “That’s my seat, I’m sitting there today and every day until I’m not here anymore.”
And with that, she moved, but not before chiding me, telling me she hopes I don’t treat my new co-workers the way I was treating her. I told her to please not speak that way to me, a senseless request as I didn’t speak nicely to her. But this was just such a strange turn of events that I had no idea how to react. I later felt bad about it, as I didn’t want this negativity to linger after I had left, so I ended up apologizing to her after the show. I said I’m sorry for being rude, that I just wanted to be comfortable for the last few days I was there. I told her you can sit there when I’m gone, and we seemed to clear the air a bit. She didn’t apologize to me either and I wasn’t expecting her to. Because sometimes you just have people pegged about how they act towards others. She wanted to mark her territory on me, and I let the bitchiest of my bitchy claws out in full force.
Calming Catnip
There’s been nothing like that since. I haven’t seen the need for it. I still have disagreements with my fellow ladies once in a while, but I don’t want them to descend into blowups anymore. It’s only recently I realized that there’s a lot I am in control of when it comes to my temperament. If I approach a situation knowing there could be head-butting at any given moment, I retract my ferocious instincts and just keep things as cool as possible. It’s simply not worth it to get into a cage match when I’m the only one interested in fighting for the top dog position.
A hostile work environment is no fun for anyone, and I’m tired of feeling like the catalyst of all the biggest catfights. I know that’s not possible as I can’t control anyone else, but I can control my own sense of self. Now if I could only apply the same logic to arguing with Twitter people over whether or not congestion pricing is a good thing (spoiler alert, it’s not).
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