I Still Suck At Hanging Out With Coworkers

tonight, my coworkers and i went out after work. my new boss (anthony) wanted to get the entire team together and hang out. the last time the team went out, one of the members (sean) was in china. so tonight, the entire team was present. apparently, anthony likes to have outings to bring the team together and boost morale and all that.

i'd say it's a good method to build teamwork because booze and food are involved. unfortunately, i still suck at hanging out with coworkers. we ended up going to the elephant and castle pub and restaurant (like last time).

it's funny because i have been to plenty of company outings during my six year tenure at work... and each time i have always dreaded going out with coworkers. and again, it's not that i dislike my coworkers. i like my coworkers. i think it's more of the fact that these company outings are like "forced" get togethers.

needless to say, the food was delicious at the restaurant. (i had grilled salmon... and naturally a few pints of guinness.) i'll have to admit, it was actually a good time. maybe i shouldn't dread these company outings so much because i have had a pretty good time the last times out. then again, it could be the beer talking. but yeah, we hung out, told stories, laughed. it was fun.

anyway, i got to ride the subway train home with anthony afterwards (he lives in braintree which happens to be the destination of the same train i take home.) as he would normally have walked from the station to his house, i offered him a ride because it was quite late... and dark out. so lucky for anthony, he got to meet my parents while i picked up the car.

incidentally, my parents were quite impressed that he knew chinese better than i did. (he's a "white devil" with "yellow fever" as he is married to a chinese woman. plus, he has lived in hong kong.) so needless to say, i got to spend some quality time with the new boss. it was actually quite nice. i got to learn more about my new boss. he seems like he really cares about the team... it's a nice feeling... hopefully, he'll stick around because i sure would like him to... but we'll see.