An Elevator Ride With An Olympian

It was brief and I didn't know who he was.

We were taking the elevator back to our floor after returning from my farewell / thank you lunch. The elevator stopped and a group of men came in. Pleasantries and greetings were exchanged before they left a few floors later. My colleague turned around and asked if we knew who he was. We didn't. He used to swim competitively and was an Olympic medallist years ago. My first thought was "What is he doing working here?" My second thought was "I'm such a hypocrite!"

It has always been a pet peeve of mine when people base their impression of me based on one simple piece of information. One small part of the puzzle. One minute part of who I am. When they think I'm just goofy, quiet, smart, dumb, or athletic, etc. [whether they're right or wrong], I want to scream "I'm more than that!" I've put in a lot of effort to be well-rounded and it is disappointing when people don't care enough to discover the other parts of my life.

Just because he was an Olympic swimmer didn't mean he wasn't the 9-5 type of guy who would enjoy working at a large corporation. I now see that it's easy to fall into traps like this and will make a conscious effort to get to learn more about those around me.