Camaraderie

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having lunch with a large group celebrating an engineer’s retirement. I was the only woman among a group of 19 men and so I got to hear a lot of talk. Who says only women can buzz at a lunch table has obviously never been listening well. But as I listened to the talk what came out of it was work, work, work. Men talk about their work. They talk about other colleague’s work. Seldom if ever does their personal lives get in the way of their talk much less as a topic of conversation.

Every single one of the men at the lunch was working even though some of them had ostensibly retired several years before. Clearly men define themselves by their work and when they are not working they are at a loose end. All of them find their work interesting (I mean all of the men at this table) and they are passionate about their work. It was a pleasure to hear them talk but I was also mentally shaking my head. Women do not think in this way at all, not even the ones who are passionate about their work. They still talk about things other than work and I can pretty much guarantee that when a woman retires she is definitely retired. No going back for her.

It really is true, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. We think differently. Men truly have a one track mind whereas women juggle more than one or two items in their minds at all times. Multitasking is very female.

And one last thing, I feel very privileged to be part of this terrific group, even though I am only on the fringe of things. What a pleasure to bring them all together for good food and good conversation. It gave me a warm feeling to be appreciated also. Mixing the mix is great fun!