Facebook friends

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . December 18, 2009 . 9:43AM

I’ve never done well with keeping friends for long periods of time. I think much of this has to do with several integral factors in my life. I grew up on a farm and, most of that time, I played on my own. I’m also highly introverted, by nature, and I often prefer my own thoughts to the thoughts of others. It’s not that I don’t care what you think, it’s just that the noise in my own head is so strong that your noise would be overwhelming. I like quiet and solitude and small groups of people. I like to go out, but infrequently. My profession is one-on-one and that connection is important to me in so many ways. It fits me.

It never occurred to me that the people I’d left along the way weren’t really gone. For the longest time I was such a black and white thinker that I’d written those relationships off as lost to me.

And then I found Facebook. Because I’m an introvert, social networking draws me like flies to honey. I can speak to people quickly and efficiently, which also hits my firstborn tendencies, and feel like I’m connecting without losing the energy that I lose in face-to-face interaction.

And then I started exploring.

And found the little girl from down the farm road that I used to play with often. I road my green bike with the banana seat to her house frequently. And not only did she remember me, but she was delighted to hear from me. We still had the connection that we had even then.

And I found the first friends I had when I finally started elementary school. And then those when I moved to a new town.

I found my first group of friends from middle school. We were so close for those four years. It was like we picked up where we left off. The best friendships are always like that, aren’t they?

I found my high school best friends and my college best friends. I found people who weren’t best friends, but that I like more as adults than I did as children. They have grown into amazing people that I love.

Through other social networking sites I have found people that I love more and more each day.

For me, I think it was just a reminder that, though there are times I feel alone and have certainly felt alone in the past, I never was. They were with me. They missed me. They were there.

And they still are.

OUCH! Facebook surfing on sick days could get you fired!

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . May 5, 2009 . 7:11PM

And Facebook surfing at home grabs another casualty.

For those of you, like me, that are too lazy to click links, let me summarize this for you. A woman calls in sick to work because she’s too sick to look at a computer screen. A co-worker allegedly catches her surfing facebook via status updates or online status. Woman screams like a baby because they were shady and created a bogus facebook account for the sole purpose of catching her.

How much of all of this is true? Well, she cops to surfing facebook even though she was too sick to look at a computer at work. She says she did it from her bed on her iphone (thus rendering her still in the dark and able to function). I often surf the net while I’m sick and in bed, so I feel her pain. There isn’t anything on tv and my friends make me feel better. Unfortunately, you can’t clarify your sickness with an addendum that it’s because you are unable to look at a computer screen if you plan on spending your day surfing the net on your iphone.

This is me not being sympathetic: She deserved to be fired not because of what she did, but because she lied. If you feel like you have to lie about what’s going on, you are at the wrong place of employment. Don’t work with people you can’t trust. If your boss can’t understand that you are bored and at home and going out of your gourd because you are type A (like me), then, even in this economy, you may have to make a change.

But Jillian, what are you saying? I can’t just up and leave my job! Look, we make the choice to stay at a bad job. I’ve been there and done that and yes, it’s hard to leave. I ended up being really poor for a long time before it got better and had my family relying on me for the financial support. I’ve had jobs where I cried every day before work and I had nightmares at night about going back. When you’ve hit this point, your sanity is more important. Please don’t come back and blame me when you quit your job and have no money. That’s not the point of this post. Your decisions aren’t mine to make and I’m not in charge of your life. The point is that your happiness is your responsibility. I’m not responsible for what you do, nor are your bosses or coworkers.

Facebook all you want, but if you lie to your boss, you may get fired, which is the position of the boss in this particular article. He/she fired the lady due to “loss of trust.” Honesty really is the best policy. Or finding a new job.