Co-workers and ham steak... and sometimes cheese

Short story about co-workers... From a post on my blogspot.

I work with a group of five women with the same sense of humor as myself, (which is a good thing - for all of us).  We are sarcastic, irreverent, and tend to be somewhat loud and obnoxious.  We laugh at things that are not funny, and we jest about things which are terrifying.  Nothing is off limits and we tend to take the frivolity to extremes.  Don't get the wrong impression of the six of us though.  We work hard, take pride in our jobs, and each other, and we strive for excellence.  We provide a solemn and sedate service for our employer, and we are all excellent at what we do.  Nevertheless, after a while, as the day drags on, things tend to get tedious and tense, and sometimes we need a break from all the seriousness and I think a little venting of steam is warranted.

We often help each other with the workload and we joke and say we are interchangeable, because we each step in to fill a need for another,  but really we just work well together.  Because we have affection for one another, we very often do nice things for each other.  However, we have one unwritten rule:  no spending lots of money on each other.  Birthdays, Christmas, or something special, we do not spend more than five dollars. 

This forces us  to be creative when thanking one another for a job well done.   The gift giving is usually symbolic of the event being commemorated, the person giving the gift, or the person receiving the gift.  Most items are purchased at a dollar store, or somewhere similar, but not always.

On one occasion, I wanted to thank a coworker for something especially gracious she had done for me, but payday was three days away.  I was desperate to show my appreciation, and didn't know what to do.  So I opened my refrigerator looking for something to make her.  I was thinking of some kind of dessert, like a cake, or brownies, or maybe cookies.  But I was out of ingredients, payday was a ways off.  The only thing I had in my fridge to give away... was a large ham steak.

I often times shop at Costco because I love a few of their products, and I love to buy my toilet paper in three hundred roll packs.  The only problem with buying that much toilet paper - is storing it.  Where does one store three hundred rolls?  I can't leave some of it out, because my dog will eat it (the damn dog will eat anything), and I do not want to clean up that mess .  But I digress....

The ham steak I buy comes in a three pack.  Meaning, three ham steaks come (individually wrapped) in a nice little handy net.  I think it's to make it easier to carry.  Earlier in the week, I had pulled a ham steak from the freezer and set it in the fridge to defrost.  I was going to use it for dinner later in the week.  My eyes landed on the ham and I knew that's what I would give as a gift to my dear friend.  But I didn't want to give her the whole steak, because I needed it to make dinner.  So, I cut the ham steak in half and put it in a baggie to take to work.  (The other half I used to make pork fried rice... very tasty).

The next morning, I set the "half of ham steak" on my co-worker's desk and waited for her to arrive.  I was anxious and nervous about giving her such a cheap and stupid gift.  I was expecting ridicule, mockery and utter contempt.  I berated myself for thinking such a gift would be acceptable.  How could I be so dense as to think she would like such a thing.  For goodness sakes, it wasn't even a whole steak!

She sat at her desk and discovered her present, and with excited eyes, looked to me and exclaimed, “Ham.  Wow, I love ham!”   I was shocked to discover her delight, as I figured she would turn her nose up at the gift.  She opened the baggie and dove in.  She enjoyed every piece of the ham steak.

 

Sometimes we mix it up and give cheese as a gift.  Cheddar, brie, mozzarella.  At Christmas we splurge and give cheese and ham together, but only half of each.  We still laugh at the memory of the ham steak, and now it's a long running joke in our circle.

 

Maybe you should try giving ham to a friend, or co-worker... or you could try cheese.  I suggest a nice block of mild cheddar.