So, yesterday was my first day back at work as female. I didn't take a week off or anything, I just showed up as female.
I decided to dress in a nice blouse and a calf-length skirt due to the positive reaction I had on Friday. So, I got dressed and drove to the transit center. I normally ride the train into work at 7:20AM. I decided to take the earlier train for the first week at 7:05AM since it wouldn't be the usual crowd of people. So I got to the transit center and found that the stop was closed and freeway traffic is horrendous, so I didn't want to drive to the next stop. I decided to take the bus instead. I asked a guy who worked there how long it would be closed and he thought it would be open by that afternoon. I had to get some change, so I went to a convenience store and bought some cookies. No problems. So I drove back to the transit center and I took the bus, which ended up being fine. I got to the building and went up in the elevator and I'm doing fine so far. As I get to just outside the office entrance, I pause and take a couple of breaths and then I go in.
I decided I didn't want to hide away at my desk all day, since it would show a sense of shame. So I went straight into my manager's office and checked in with him (which I don't normally do) and he treated me respectfully, so I started feeling somewhat confident. I went to my desk started getting to work. I noticed that my name hadn't been changed in the email systems yet and inquired about this. I guess they were just a little slow, because they got it up soon after without any prompting. I just decided to go about my day as if everything was perfectly normal. I had people smile and say hi along the way. I even went around and talked to several people. Everyone was getting name/pronouns right 100%.
Well, it had come time to use the bathroom. The question was, should I use the handicap bathroom at first or the women's restroom? I had clearance to use the women's restroom and nobody seemed bothered by that, but the handicap bathroom was closer to my desk. I decided to use the women's restroom. So I kept using it throughout the day and women who were using it at the same time said hi and were very friendly. No problems there.
That's about how the remainder of the day went. Nobody acted like anything was strange or that I had ever been any different. It was wonderful. I went back to my car on the train since the transit center was open again and then drove to a support group meeting I had. I told them about what had happened in the past week. Then when I was driving home, I had a really bad gender dysphoria attack due to something from the meeting (which I don't want to discuss). I checked the mail and found I had my new social security card in there, but that didn't cheer me up much. I was depressed all evening and ended up going out to a restaurant and having some breakfast food for dinner to help cheer me up.
Today I got up and decided to wear something a bit more casual so I put on capri jeans and a shirt. I grabbed my social security card in case it would come in handy today. On my way to the transit center, I had a realization that cheered me up from last night. I rode the train into work and went in feeling perfectly normal. It turns out that the social security card did come in useful and I needed to fax a copy of it to the main office. Again, the day continued without a problem. I even heard people talking about me behind my back and using the correct name/pronouns. At lunch, I went to a Thai place that I go to often, but there was a different person serving food and it was just the usual "thank you ma'am"
instead of the conversation I was expecting.
So far the day has continued normally and I've even scheduled meetings with a couple people tomorrow. I thought this would be much harder. I really am amazed at how well this has gone at work. I'm so glad that I didn't take the "I have to be shy because I'm the ->-bleeped-<-" approach as well. I feel like I am treated just like any other woman.
Melissa
