I'm a big believer in first impressions. It's the main thing I look for when I'm deciding something, like a new church for example. A big reason why that I'm choosing the church I go to now is because at my first visit, people went out of their way to introduce themselves and make us feel at home. The feeling carried on into our second visit as well. Now I'm not a person that makes friends easily so to me this is a huge deal.
Today I had my first FRG meeting and I couldn't wait to get the heck out of there. I walk in and it's obvious I'm the new person but did anyone introduce themselves to me? No. No one even acknowledged me. I might as well have been invisible. All the other wives were sitting around, talking with one another and yet no one said a single word to me.
Now I don't want people to drop everything and flock to me like I'm just SO important but at least say, "Hi! Thanks for coming!". And I know that this is a stressful time for everyone but come on... there's really no excuse for being rude and that's just how these women acted. It was all very "cliquey" and whatnot. And I have no tolerance for that crap. This isn't high school, after all. It's tough being the new person and even worse when you have no time to acclimate to your new surroundings. And these women would've known that had someone made the effort to say a simple "hello".
So I've decided to keep my distance from the FRG. I'll go to the meetings mostly so the kids will have the chance to play with other kids. But as far as me being all talkative and social with these snobs....well.... that's just not going to happen. Give me my info so I can get the heck out of here.
The FIT Challenge
15 years ago
1 comment:
It's hard to be the new person...and the FRG treated you poorly, but IMHO, that is typically how FRG's are...and how they are run.
You've described my life in this post. Same thing with the church...first church I went to, I felt welcome. 3 weeks later, I'm playing in the orchestra...3 weeks after that, I'm soloing to open the service..that's faith and trust.
But the FRG thing...that's my life at all times, every post(except Ft. Gordon - maybe it was because it was our first post as "command"). Because of my hubby's position. But I don't bother any more. Not that I expect everyone to come kowtow to me, but soldiers should be gracious enough to bring their spouses over and introduce them to me, or my husband should be proactive and introduce me to his soldier, who can then continue the intro, right?
Put your faith in your church and the people there...the FRG should keep you informed, but they're not your family.
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