A month or so ago Rummuser wrote a post entitled, A Cuckoo in the Nest, one definition being
An unwelcome intruder in a place or situation. Someone who doesn’t fit in.
Hmm. Have you never been a cuckoo in the nest? I was one — to some people — in my all-time favorite job. It was in a hierarchical environment, and I don’t do hierarchies very well. One of my in-laws asked me why I worked so hard. My answer? I love to cause trouble, and I was contributing enough for them to let me get by with it.
In fact, not everyone was bothered by me — some were very encouraging. When something needed to be said to management, they (including my group leader at times) would ask me to do it. As they said,
Better you (get fired) than me, Jean.
Yes, it was a lot more fun than blending in. Have you ever had that experience?
June 2, 2014
I never had a problem fitting in, but I also didn’t have a problem with talking to my boss when it was needed.
That works too.
There were a couple of items that stand out in my career other than just typical inter-office issues. Both required getting top-level management involved and both were resolved successfully and were both very advantageous to my career.
I consider myself very fortunate to have never found myself in a situation in the work place where obvious detrimental forces were at work at odds with the task at hand and my management turned a deaf ear to the issues.
The job I’m talking about was great. We had a reunion a few years ago — about 17 years after we retired. The group morale was incredibly high.
I would not be able to tell if I was ever one, but I seriously doubt that I was. As I had said earlier, I lived a charmed corporate life just being at the right place at the right time and going along for great rides. But in the process, I did come across some cuckoos in the nest at all levels and disciplines in companies.
You and I have both been incredibly lucky. In my case I had taken ten years out to stay home with Kaitlin, and when I was ready to go back to work I ran into the father of a girl who had been the substitute for Kaitlin’s paper route when Kaitlin had broken her ankle. For some reason the father had been impressed by me and said to tell him if I ever wanted to go back to work. So when we talked in the supermarket that night, I mentioned I was job hunting.
As it turned out, his group was expanding so he arranged an informal interview with the group leader. The GL and I hit it off, and he created the halftime job I was looking for. The half time part didn’t last. The job was so much fun I was soon working full time — actually 60 hours a week because I loved it so much. It meant that nine years later when the lab was downsizing and offering an early retirement package, Andy and I could afford to take it. So after 20 years of retirement bliss, I’m still grateful. I assume you are too.
afraid i’m probably a blender~inner.
and it started no doubt with a move every year and a brand new school to get used to.
as a little child you want to be accepted and make new friends… so you adjust to whatever the environment requires. i’d say i’m a good adjuster!
but i never failed to speak up when totally necessary. because i do have spunk.
i don’t really know WHAT that makes me then! LOL.
I was just taken by the term “cuckoo in the nest”. In this post I’m really talking about spunk. I have no doubt that you have plenty!
Being a loner, in the first place, makes it easier for me.
I work far better if I am left to my own devices. Every year my managerial ship of the weavers/spinners fundraiser creates a surplus which everyone is happy with 🙂
Even now at Uni, I do the loner thing! I work better if I have some guidance on where to start to find things – then get on finding even better resources…
I’m a self-starter and do best with independent study too. As I’ve said before, I’m impressed by you.
I’ve always been a cuckoo in the nest everywhere I go. I’m always the one who doesn’t quite fit in, the one with the slightly deviant opinions and the tiresome reservations. I’m incapable of seamlessly blending in with whatever group I’m a part of. Sometimes not blending in is fun, sometimes it’s just stressful. But that’s the way I am, nothing I can do about it.
You might like this post: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/prescriptions-life/201310/stop-trying-fit-in-aim-belong-instead
My biggest not fitting in was in a job – no training, no explanation of roles . . .
In some ways I don’t feel I fit anywhere but with my friends. Our culture and society is premised on so many things that I just don’t ‘buy’.
That’s not surprising — I’m not big on American culture either. Thank goodness we can choose our friends.