MetaChat - Niiiiiice, huh?

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20 September 2007

Niiiiiice, huh? You know, I just don't relate to people sometimes.→[More:]So I'm freelancing at a big corporation right now on behalf of an outside ad agency. Don't know most of the people around me, so I'm sitting here at the computer like a fly on a wall. This morning I got to hear all about someone's 4 day honeymoon in "Europe." Ten minutes of conversation with people asking, "So how is Europe?" but I never did find out what country he went to. All he really said was "We went shopping."

Then the room cleared. I'm sitting at a long desk with two computers, and a guy walked in, up to the girl sitting at the computer next to me & said, "Niiiiiiiice, huh?" as he shoved his wrist into her face repeatedly.

She responded, "Oh, is that another Cartier watch? Where do you get them? At a store or are you one of those ebay shoppers?"

He looked aghast, "THE STORE. Of course."

She said, "Do you just like watches?" And he talked for about ten minutes about how much it means for him to own as many watches as possible.

So anyhow, more power to whatever makes people happy. It's just that I'm listening to this and thinking how I'd much rather spend less time working in a corporation surrounded by flourescent lights and cubicles and eating lunch out of vending machines, that I can't imagine going to Europe for 4 days, and that I haven't owned a watch since 1985.

post by: miss lynnster at: 15:39 | 38 comments

By the way, don't take this wrong. I'm not trying to be snotty or complain. They all seem like very nice people. I just feel like a square peg at times is all.

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 15:48

Tell these people that shopping is a waste of drinking and fucking time.

posted by Hugh Janus 20 September | 15:57

My cell phone has the time. Who needs a watch?

posted by bunnyfire 20 September | 16:00

EXACTLY. Especially more than one. And ones that cost thousands of dollars more than I should be able to afford when I'm working in a cubicle.

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 16:03

I can't live without my watch but it's a $25 year old analog Timex that I bought sometime in the late nineties.

posted by octothorpe 20 September | 16:07

It's still ticking though, right? Have you licked it?

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 16:10

I like watches. I don't carry my cell phone with me all the time, and I don't like having to dig it out of my purse to find out what time it is.

Also, I hate that fewer places have clocks now.

posted by small_ruminant 20 September | 16:13

I feel the same way when my coworkers talk about the latest celebrity gossip or who should win on American Idol. I have NOTHING to contribute to that conversation.

At the same time, I really like these same coworkers and enjoy spending fun, turn-off-your-brain-and-go-drinking time with them. (Not that I'm saying I have to turn of my brain to hang out with them, just that when we get together we all choose not to think about any serious stuff.) When we are all out of town together for a conference I have some of the best times.

My $15 watch from Target just broke and I want to get a fancy Skagen one.

posted by misskaz 20 September | 16:24

I don't wear a watch - it gives me a convenient excuse when I'm late.

posted by muddgirl 20 September | 16:24

I feel the same way when my coworkers talk about the latest ball game. The passion and energy and time and money they spend on watching other people exercise is just amazing to me. Then they're amazed when I don't show any interest whatsoever, like I'm the weird one.

posted by mrmoonpie 20 September | 16:27

I stopped wearing a watch when I got out of the Navy. It was a statement to myself about personal freedom, at the time. Now I have so many clocks in every room (attached to computers or microwaves or cell phones) that wearing a watch would be superfluous. Since I don't like to wear jewelry of any kind, I'm just as happy not to wear a watch anyway but it's no longer a statement.

posted by doctor_negative 20 September | 16:29

Some people that I work with have watch envy. One guy has the nicest brand of watch ever made (nicer even than Rolex - I'd never heard of the brand) and was super jealous of the CEO, who has the same brand watch, only a nicer model. Another guy I work with (in his mid-20's) has a top of the line Rolex.

Some people just have too much money I think. ;)

posted by triggerfinger 20 September | 16:29

My co-workers are all geeks who talk about the latest way that they hacked their cablebox to interface with their ipod or the like. Or they're writing bug reports in haiku form. Or as yesterday, all talking like pirates. We're all in our own offices though so this all takes place over IRC and you can ignore it if you want.

posted by octothorpe 20 September | 16:31

Tell these people that they're a couple of dipshits.

This morning I had a guy tell me he used to manage a plant in Atlanta -- he was the only white person there. And that he knew what "black people were like!" He had a few good people, but he knew!

Also the consensus at work is that OJ will rent a helicopter and escape the country.

Dipshits.

I wear an clear aqua running watch by Timex. It's beautiful and gorgeous.

posted by LoriFLA 20 September | 16:32

Yeah, see, I'm such a travel fiend... but I know if I asked that guy, "So where in Europe did you go? You went to Paris? Did you have a nutella crepe? God I love those. You didn't go to the Jazz Cellar in St. Germain du Pres, did you? I love that place." And then in my excitement he'd look at me funny, like I'm some kind of freak, and tell me about how he doesn't know what I'm talking about but that they have a pretty good Virgin Megastore there.

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 16:35

I haven't worn a watch since I wore a Swatch. (Actually, several swatches as that was the fashion of the time.)

When I travelled for work, I used to hook a pocket watch to my briefcase.

Tell these people that they're a couple of dipshits.
Lori, you've been rather salty lately. I like it!

posted by jrossi4r 20 September | 16:36

I just broke down and bought a watch because I got tired of digging my cellphone out all the time.

One of the characters in Count Zero had an old Rolex with a pigskin band. I have wanted one since I read that book but have yet to run across one that I can afford. Maybe I'll find one.

posted by danf 20 September | 16:39

Ha! Thanks jrossi. My lack of sleep is shining through.

posted by LoriFLA 20 September | 16:41

I like watches. A cell phone is poor substitute. But I only need two, a nice one and an a more casual/athletic watch.

The passion and energy and time and money they spend on watching other people exercise is just amazing to me.

I can certainly understand someone not liking sports, but that statement really isn't fair. A baseball game, for instance, isn't watching exercise. It's a story developing before my eyes. Much like a movie, except no one know show it ends until it does just that.

Besides, you could use that excuse for everything. Why go see a movie when I could act? Why go watch music when I can play music? I can play baseball, but not to their level, and I can play music but not to (insert name) their level.

posted by justgary 20 September | 16:44

William Gibson gets even more obsessed with watches in his later books. So I can't completely discount them. Maybe they could make a special brass codpiece with a place to mount the Rolex, surrounded by blinking LEDs forming the words, "Mine is better than yours!".

posted by craniac 20 September | 16:59

I like watches, as I hardly ever use my cell. But as justgary said, I really only need two, an everyday and a nice one. I do have about four or five old watches I like that all need batteries. One is a Snoopy watch that I adore and will never get rid of, even though I probably will never get it fixed.

Mr.V, on the other hand, loves watches. I bought him a special case just for his watches (I think it holds 9 or so) and he still has one or two that don't fit. Luckily, they aren't all expensive, just nice. I've told him that he's a watch/sunglass whore like I'm a coat/purse/shoe whore.

posted by redvixen 20 September | 17:41

I had a boss who was obsessed with Mont Blanc pens. Not because they were superior writing implements, but for the status thing. He used to shoot his cuffs to show off his cufflinks, too. Need I add that he was a total dick?

The way my life is structured these days, I don't need either a watch or a cellphone. I like it this way.

posted by bmarkey 20 September | 18:06

Who needs a watch?

I do!

My watch has Daffy Duck on it waving his little wing-arms around in endless circles, and every time I look down at it I think "tick tock tick tock... It's a living!"

My cellphone? Not so much.

My biggest moments like these are listening to grown men talk about their fantasy $SPORT teams. WTF? Why can't you do something sensible and grown-up with your time like play half-life?

posted by ROU Xenophobe 20 September | 18:12

The BF wants a Tag Heuer watch. I've decided that he will only get one if we get married, as a groom's gift. They're nice, but I think it's kind of a lot for a watch. The most I've ever spent on one is about $8.

posted by youngergirl44 20 September | 18:34

I got a fake Tag Heuer for like $8 in Bangkok in 1994, and I actually really loved it so that's the only watch I have worn in the last 20 years, I put it on for work sometimes. Some people were SO impressed... so I let them believe it was real.

Wore it all the time up until it turned my arm green.

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 19:16

My biggest moments like these are listening to grown men talk about their fantasy $SPORT teams.

A*freakin'*MEN! I mean I'm up a game of pickup as much as the next guy, but sit on my ass in front of the TV watching men in tights for hours?

I'd much rather daydream about four days in Paris. You ever get to the Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore on the Left Bank, Lynnster?

posted by bonehead 20 September | 20:32

Sometimes I get down on my choice of career, but reading this thread reminds me that I made the right choice. I don't have this disconnect with my co-workers - even when we're stressed, I know that we share a lot of basic values. I appreciate being challenged, bringing transformative experiences to the public, and learning something new almost every week. I'm glad that I get to be around people of knowledge and ideas, and I rarely have to overhear conversations and ask "why am I around these people?"

On watches: I've always worked where there were timed programs going on, and a watch is a necessity. Since I always also worked around the public, a watch has been a better choice than going with the cellphone. You can discreetly check your watch by canting your arm just so, but it's awfully hard to check your cell readout without giving an audience the impression that you have better things to be doing.

My dad loves watches, and he's not a status guy. He's just kind of a small-machinery geek; it also explains the Lionel trains. He must have 25 watches of varying makes and ages. Some people really just dig watches - though it sounds like these guys want to use them to impress, the way some women use diamond jewelry.

posted by Miko 20 September | 20:34

I got quite a few cool things in there, bonehead. It's pricey though. I've found my best books in thrift stores. Usually the english books are hidden in back under boxes or something because nobody wants them. :)

posted by miss lynnster 20 September | 21:58

I indulged myself a few years ago with a fairly pricey (for me, anyway) Seiko. I had been wearing a black plastic Casio that probably put me back about $15. It worked well, but it always looked something like a toy, and I wanted something a little more grownup. That damn Casio is now at least five years old, probably six, and it is still running on the original batteries.

posted by deadcowdan 20 September | 22:39

You work with dangerous freaks and should quit immediately.

posted by shane 21 September | 00:15

My consumerist status symbol, let me show you it.

posted by BitterOldPunk 21 September | 00:17

The Dalai Lama loves watches.

posted by ethylene 21 September | 00:22

Yeah, but I'm willing to bet he doesn't collect Cartier watches.

posted by bmarkey 21 September | 00:28

Last i heard he had all the top of the line watches and his monks had Rolexes. He likes a nice watch. He likes small machinery.
He also likes a cookie in the afternoon.

posted by ethylene 21 September | 00:45

Who doesn't?

posted by bmarkey 21 September | 00:48

I wouldn't be surprised if the Dalai Lama did collect crazy expensive watches. He's in a position where high power people are going to want to give him gifts and a watch is a heck of a lot easier to store and care for than say a car Does anyone have a good link to Brezhnev's car collection? It appears to be one of the near history things that falls through the internet's cracks.

I wonder if wrist watches will someday become as anachronistic as pocket watches on chains. Though I went without a watch for about a year last year I do like wearing them; or more specifically I like know what time it is. And as they've stopped putting clocks in public places and I almost never remember to bring my phone a wrist watch is handy. I prefer a cheaper water resistant unit then I never really have to take it off. And the indiglo Timex models make a good torch in a pinch.

My biggest moments like these are listening to grown men talk about their fantasy $SPORT teams.

I'd laugh at them but I play 40K so I figure we're about even. However you won't catch me regaling the office with tales of my weekend conquests. Even if they are much more interesting IMHO than any rigidly defined stick and ball activity. However that's as much about me being an introvert as it is about good manners about lecturing on things I know others won't be interested in.

posted by Mitheral 21 September | 03:20

I never liked wearing a watch, because they always made me feel lopsided. This is also why I could never be a pirate or Edwardian millionaire.

posted by Atom Eyes 21 September | 10:28

Mitheral, I think the Brezhnev Rolls-Royce is here in Riga, Latvia!

(And am I the only Latvia-resident Mechazen?)

posted by mdonley 22 September | 17:39

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