Oooffff. Just had a meeting with staff from a different agency, and one was so different from most in my field. Usually people working in enviro and resources fields are entirely nice. We were at the cafe, which is apparently the cafe where every last person who works on water stuff goes, because I've known half a dozen people who came through this morning. (I am relieved that I have multiple connections to some of them, from the garden or Ultimate or friends. Many are social acquaintances first.) One of the women was a friend from my neighborhood, and we're all affectionate when we see each other.
But the other, she was all angles and sharp glasses. She clicked in on heels and told me about how it is for thirty minutes before listening to me. She wasn't really interested in listening to me, truth told. She did the acronyms and rattling off legislation, which turns out to be a game I can play. She was a very little bit contemptuous for most of the time, which always makes me laugh. Lady, I know I'm in jeans and you're all throwing that scarf around over your suit, but two years of blogging has left me pretty confident that my thought is rigorous. I like being a sleeper, having people underrate me because I dress like a grad student and use small words. But she never listened enough to find out that I have thought a lot about this stuff. I wonder what she's thinking as she walks back to her office. Does she think that she helped that girl, that dispensing her experience and straightening out the naive is part of her professional obligations? Could be.