I'm putting this out there, because *I* personally find it so dang amusing. We keep laughing at work.
I have never laid eyes upon most of the guys I work with at Company X. They're up in the Great White North and I'm down here in FL and via phone and email is how we communicate.
Our assistant, whose cube is across from me, and I play this game of 'What do you think he looks like?"
It all started a couple years ago when some guys in IT at Company X, not only googled my name to see what I look like, but readily admitted it.
I hung up the phone and said, "Ev, they frickin' looked me up!"
Ev: Wait. They googled you?
Me: YES!
Ev: And... they ADMITTED it?
Me: YES! Dopey IT guys. They didn't even think to be embarrassed in the least!
And so it started that she and I play this game. It is based PURELY on voice. We have absolutely nothing else to go on. Our curiosity is such, if we meet someone from Company X, we'll ask them with great animation and curiosity, "SO! What does Joe Bag of Doughnuts look like?"
I've noticed that most of the guys, if they have an animated voice, I make about 5'10" and lean. If they're whiny, I put them as schlumpy. It's just the trend I'm seeing.
And that brings us to today's conversation. I strongly suspect only those of you who work in the aersospace business are going to find this funny.
What the hell.
Background: I'm doing augmentor duct work for one of the lead engineers at Company X. Each lead engineer has a different section of the aircraft. This conversation is written out exactly as *I* heard it, not as it was meant.
Ev: I got this email from Malik.
Me: I'm working that big panic job for him. It's high priority. I'm going insane.
Ev: What do you think he looks like?
Me: Mmmm... 5'8" to 5'10". Dark hair, lean. 30ish. Middle Eastern looking. Dark. No glasses.
Ev: Wow. You've been far more generous in your mind than I was in mine.
Male voice of a co-worker I didn't know was at her cube: Turbine?
Me, peeking around the corner: No. Augmentor Ducts.
Male: *pause* *Ev has bent around the corner and is laughing* NOoo... *swirling his hand around his head* TurBAN.
Me: OH! Turban! No. No turban.
And at that, everyone in the office busted out laughing and it's become the big joke now.
We're geeky. It amuses me.
Posted by Boudicca at March 16, 2010 08:36 PMOh good lord, I use to do that all the time too. I think anyone who deals with a lot of people but strickly over the phone has a mental image of what they look like.
This one guy everyone in my dept use to deal with on the phone had mucho sexy voice, the mental pictures we had of him were um, very nice.
Turns out the guy was deewby, short, nerdy, etc looking. Boy were we disappointed.
Posted by: Quality Weenie at March 17, 2010 09:06 AMTurbines? We don't need no stinkin' Turbines.
One first reflection ... no noone like that around here, then I remembered that we do have some contractors ... apparently one is a Sikh.
And, no QW, I am not as skinny as I once was ... the voice still rumbles though. (I am sure that I'm not QW's that guy, but anyway ...)
Posted by: The Thomas at March 17, 2010 03:25 PMROFLMAO I love it!
QW- YES! WE get these deep manly voices and we definitely think of big brawny and then we see a guy who is just... not. You cannot depend on voices, but it cracks me up. It provides much amusement.
Thomas- Actually, *I* am the sub. He's a real employee. He's a great guy. I did change his name for this post...
Teresa- Ev is a funny woman.
Now that you got me to thinking, it is odd that I am not seeing that many Sikhs around (not just work, but elsewhere in the city).
Back in the 70's a large contingent of Indian Indians (in engineering) moved to the area. All sorts of people. Worked in Civil and Aerospace (and whatever other engineering ... medicine too).
I never asked why. I just took it as it was ... more local color. (And we need color what with all the tall blond Dutch around. My daughters were startled when they got to college and saw a normal distribution of hair color after seeing the 50-60% blond that they saw in High School.)
There used to be a fair number of Sikhs ... now I don't see so many. I have no idea why they aren't here anymore.
We still have the less obvious Indian Indians and Pakistanis ... different people come and people go.
It is difficult think in EEO terms when engineers treat racial/ethinic background as a curiosity that is of no importance if the person has the technical skills.
Posted by: The Thomas at March 18, 2010 11:42 AM"It is difficult think in EEO terms when engineers treat racial/ethinic background as a curiosity that is of no importance if the person has the technical skills."
Says the man.
Here in the Great White Northern Middle East I hated working with "middle eastern" men. Good lord were/are they biased against women.
Posted by: Quality Weenie at March 20, 2010 03:43 PM