Being Greeted

When I walked into the office for the first time the space was womb-dark and smelled like warm food. Halloween decorations were liberally strewn across the ceiling and draped over unmanned, makeshift computer workstations. I stood there for a moment, and was quickly met by my friends who are my new employers. They apologized about the mess, and I thought to myself that it reminded me of a familiar place.

We walked together through a doorway into a bright room where I was noisily greeted by the owner and the entire staff of eight or so people. They all cheered at once, as though it were a surprise party. Someone even applauded. And I was so confused by this reaction that I thought I had just happened to walk in at the precise moment they began celebrating something for one of their existing staff. But they were looking at me.

“Who?” I asked with absolute sincerity.

“You!” they said, and laughed.

“Oh, me?” I replied. I was so surprised by this atmosphere – this unreserved, boisterous welcome – that I was still only partially capable of comprehending it.

You see, I received polite, professional, but concerned greetings when I joined my current job. People delicately made small talk one at a time and used carefully chosen words in unexpressive tones portending of danger.

It was dramatically unlike the local kine version of an Olive Garden commercial I had just walked into.

Now that I’ve had it both ways, I think maybe you can tell a lot about a place by the way people greet you. And I’m going to watch for that, and choose carefully. Life is too short. I don't want to spend it where people aren’t happy enough to be excited to share.