I've been working in the dining room of a retirement home for the last year and a half. I'm a waitress or in fancier terms, a "server" as in, "How may I serve you?" (sorry, I'm really sarcastic right now). I've been promoted since I first started working, to substitute Dining Room Coordinator which means my boss can call me when she doesn't feel like working and I have to come in -- sometimes with as little as 15 minutes notice.
The retirement home -- the Stone, I'll call it -- is a pretty easy place to work. Laid back enough, lots of teenagers working there. I've dated two of the guys I worked with, and never had the managent say anything to me about Public Displays of Affection (PDA). Of course, the guy I dated was the head chef's brother-in-law...
Yesterday however, a co-worker (S.) and I were repremaned for having our arms around eachother while we were talking. This seems to be a problem because he and I are not dating, we're just friends. We've now been warned that if we are caught hugging in this manner again, we will be written up for flirting.
I was seriously pissed. S. and I are just friends -- we have been since he started there. We may be more physical than other guys and girls we work with, but no one gets mad at me when I hug another girl because she's having a bad day. Why should it be any different with S.? And we were in the kitchen, not in the dining room, so none of the residents saw us.
Maybe I'm being very one sided about this... but it's not like we were making out or anything, we were just hugging. And it's not like there hasn't been romance at the Stone... no one has ever objected before. And S. and I are friends, not lovers.
So yeah, I'm confused and angry about the whole issue. Maybe once I cool off, I will see this with a clearer head.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
