Red rover

My office is pretty open. Not in an accepting kind of way—we don’t even have casual Fridays. What I mean is that everyone’s computer screen faces outward, so if you go for a walk around the office, you can see what people are working on (or not, as the case may be). Needless to say, when I blog at work I write in Word. I think most people surf the web at work and I really couldn’t care less if I go in to talk to a coworker and see that they’re reading ESPN.com. More power to them. But today I went in for a meeting and came across my very married-with-child coworker surfing the personal/casual encounters section of Craigslist. It was awkward. He blushed. I pretended I hadn’t seen anything. My heart sank, though, and nine million questions ran through my head. Was he unhappy? Was he just looking for a 5-minute distraction from work? Or was he scanning to see what’s out there? The answer is none of my business. But it’s moments like those when I realize how naïve I am. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.