Squirrelly, flakey, goofy, whatever you call it, I have that tendency. As a result, for my first week at work, I had a simple goal:  not be so squirrelly, flakey, goofy.  Sounds simple, right?  Well, perhaps for someone who is not so squirrelly, flakey, goofy.

So all week, I tried really hard and I think I did pretty well. There was the morning of Casual Friday, when my wife vetoed my blue jean selections and I was left with an awkward khaki selection.  Ah, time to shop for jeans of Casual Friday quality.  I can do this.

There I was earlier today, early Friday afternoon, I had almost made it through the whole week with my squirrelly, flakey, goofy tendencies largely in check. Then came the Friday afternoon training session, which included “introduction time.”  Intros soon circled around to me and I included a tiny little joke.  Intended more for a chuckle than anything else.  “My name is Dave and I have been with the County for a long time…  since Tuesday.”  Soft chuckle, chuckle.  Mission accomplished.  Then I wrapped up with an “It is really nice to be here.”  Not intended to be funny, but for some reason this generated a larger laugh.  What?  What did I do?  Was the delivery wrong?  Obviously.  Was it the tone of voice?  Maybe.  Did I say something wrong?  I don’t think so.  Discouraged, I then became a model student.  Participation.  Check.  Listening attentively to the instructor.  Check.  Eyes toward the front.  Check.

On the brightside, that last surge of seriousness may have lifted me up to a “B-“ for the week. Not bad for a man with strong squirrelly, flakey, goofy tendencies.