I work with a diverse group of people. It keeps my job interesting. From the overly anxious OCD student who comes to me freaking out about her schedule to the totally scatter-brained professor who hasn't seen the top of his desk in years; it's the people you work with that make a job what it is. My job is great. I work with some really fun people and even though a select few may grate on my nerves sometimes, overall I love the people I work with. It's the diversity that keeps things alive in this otherwise dead office. It often provides me with some great blogging material too!My desk is in the back of the office. It actually faces the office doors of some of the faculty.
For the past month, there has been a greeting card posted on the office door directly in front of my computer. It is bright pink with a very ornate illustration of a bird on the front (pictured above). I didn't think much of it at first; but as the weeks went on, I noticed that there was a short sentence in small font on the front of the card. Upon closer inspection I was able to read it.
It read:
What the...!? A rare bird? What kind of greeting card is this? I would not know how to take this comment. What exactly is it saying? I have pondered it's meaning for sometime now and have yet to come up with a positive connotation to the phrase "rare bird." Perhaps beautiful bird or precious bird or something else, but the term "rare bird" just makes me think that the giver of the card is calling the recipient strange or weird in some way and, in essence, a total social misfit. Perhaps it is just me, but these are not flattering things to call someone via greeting card or by any other means of communication.
I was hoping that the inside of the card could offer some greater insight into the meaning of this borderline insulting card, but when I looked to open the card I discovered that there was no follow-up message. In fact, it is just a postcard. A postcard informing someone that they are a rare bird. Awesome.
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P.S. It's not just me. Yesterday one of my coworkers came by and read the card out loud. My friend sitting at the desk next to me, not realizing that our coworker was just reading out loud, looked up with an offended look on her face and said, "Excuse me!?" It sounded just as weird and insulting out loud as it did in my head!
5 comments:
haha...I'm trying to think of instances when I would use the phrase "you are a rare bird". All of the situations deal with someone being odd and me coming up with the nicest way possible to tell them. haha. Awesome.
Who was the card directed at?
That is a weird card. The other thing I can't figure out is what statement the professor who received it is trying to make by posting it on his door. Is it that he wants to say, "Look what a weird card I got?" Or is more that he is proud to have received the title of "rare bird"? The only thing I can think of that makes sense is that it's some kind of inside joke. In that case, the place to post the card would be inside the office.
Very strange. And I thought the HFAC'ers were the odd ducks.
was this for dr. black? because "rare bird" is a great descroption.
haha, it certainly was. It's a card from her daughter. I debated on even writing this post given who the card was intended, but in 99% of instances the term "rare bird" would not describe someone so accurately.
I hope this doesn't adversely affect my credibility as a blogger.
i think that someone flunked hallmark school so they were really bitter and decided to make random weird cards with no follow up messages.
rare bird indeed....how odd!
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