Coupons and co-workers

This is an old post from my time at ONR I decided to publish the funny thing is that this still very much applies to SPAWAR and I'm sure the reaction will be the same when my mom comes to work with me in the beginning of December:

My co-workers are aware that I'm a youngish 20 something with no girlfriend or mother to look after me and therefore the reasoning goes I must not be able to fend for myself when it comes to food. I'm also the only young male of that age in the office so for all the women in the office that have children who have moved out, they see me as an opportunity to get some of that last minute parenting in. Normally the perks are tremendous, don't want their piece of cake? Give it to Marty. Didn't want those chips they got at lunch? Give it to Marty. Haven't mothered someone in a little while, Marty! Actually the mothering is quite cute, they all take an interest in what I eat, who I date, what I do on the weekends, my hair, my posture etc etc. It's like being at the office with 8 mothers every day (sometimes it's a living hell).

When I first got here my mom had just moved to Bahrain, and upon finding this out all of the would me surrogate mothers in the office took my collectively under their wing. It was as if my own mother had never left! But when my mom came to visit me and I brought her to the office the attitude became palpably cold. Sure there were smiles all around, but you could just see my office moms thinking, "Oh, so you're the negligent mother who left her son alone to fend for himself, look who showed up late to the party." It was really funny how the all fluffed up their feathers, but it was quite entertaining and cute. It eventually led to more mothering once my mom left the office.

The coupons thing is great though, because it doesn't even have to be the mother's who gives me coupons. See all the people in my office get coupons in the mail they can't use, for restaurants or food deals or something that they have no use for but think that a 25ish year old could use. So I get all these coupons that suit me just fine because I would never actively seek them out. So I get free stuff or discounted stuff all the time and it's the generosity of my co-workers that allows it to happen, they are so thoughtful! It's especially striking because sometimes they will give me the same book of coupons, which means two or more people had the exact same thought when they were going through their coupon mail..."Hey Marty could probably use this!" It's nice sometimes that they are considerate enough to think of me, or maybe they are trying to fatten me up to cook me! AHHHH!