It took a week and a half, but I now have my first classmate I’d like to bitch-slap.

When it comes to school, I’m not very competitive. I truly believe I’m there for the learning experience, and am not the type to randomly jump all over people who disagree with me or put down their ideas in front of others. Really now, that’s just rude.

This week’s Org Behavior unit is on diversity, and how individual differences (age, values, attitudes, motivations, etc.) manifest themselves within our organizations. This woman…we’ll call her “Marge,” relayed a story of her firm and the struggles they experience between the older workers and the younger ones. As a bit of a setup, Marge has already displayed she has overachiever tendencies…and this was before I found out she was a lawyer.

I responded in agreement, as my company also struggles with generational issues amongst the employees. I then shared a specific example, along with why we 30-somethings thought if our 50-something colleagues would just give progress a chance (so to speak), we could replace outdated and clunky proceses with more streamlined processes…and then we could all achieve that coveted work/life balance! I capped off my response with, “Why work 12 hours a day when you can improve a process to reduce your task-mastering to 4 hours a day?”

Well. Marge seemed to take my response as a recommendation as to what her company should do to solve their problems…and I’m thinking, if I knew how to solve corporate problems, I’d save the money I’m spending on this graduate degree and open my own consulting firm. She then continued in a “You don’t know me” vein, outlining how I couldn’t possibly understand what her firm experiences, as it’s much worse in a smaller firm and the “corporate world” has the luxury of being able to change processes.

Heh. Smaller firm. We have eleven people in our little self-sustaining entity. But, she wouldn’t know that.

Of course, this is a fantastic case study in the power of assumptions and miscommunication…and how if you don’t read someone’s response completely, you could wind up making yourself look like a jackass in front of the rest of the class.

I wanted to respond…to defend what I did, but Capt. UberHusband told me to forget about it, as I did nothing which needed to be defended. Plus, he said, her words will speak for themselves…and it’s likely no one will ever respond to her posts again, for fear of being attacked.

I also should have posted about how two years ago, my company held “Diversity Day,” in an effort to break down barriers and bring a Kumbaya-like sense of serenity and camaraderie to our group. Things went swimmingly until I asked my Jewish boss if the ham sandwiches I ordered for lunch tasted good!

Please Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to not hit “Post” in haste, and the wisdom to never, ever be the classmate people don’t want to interact with.