Thanks Laurie.  Hopefully your daughter comes to her senses as well.

Quote from: Colleen_definitely on October 13, 2017, 11:59:10 AM
I am in the 35 and up crowd

I know, and I totally respect the way you set limits on your dad's processing before going public.  You negotiated from strength, one adult to another, and you went ahead with disclosure right when you said you would.

We finally managed to cross paths so the boss and I had our sitdown meeting last night.  He had not seen me in person in about 18 months, so he was more than a little surprised at my appearance.  But he's totally on board.

Since we have a regional meeting with all of the other employees in the midwest next week in Chicago, I'll be letting them all know at the end of it.  I've got a memo ready to go, I'll just duck out of the conference room while my boss hands those out and has a little Q&A session with "the guys" and no pressure.  After that it's a no reprisal Q&A session with me if they want to know something, they can ask. 

Since I have to give a presentation during the meeting they're all going to know something is up with how I look, so this will probably lead to a bunch of "aaah, that's why" reactions.

I have one coworker who I know isn't a fan of trans people, and another that I'm not sure about.  We'll see how it goes in a little over a week.  My boss has my back so I'm not worried.

You're gonna do great.  Most of the women will switch pronouns pretty quickly.  The men take much, much longer.  And, if you can find a way to stop being the recipient of the ubiquitous firm handshake, please let me know.

Good luck with the presentation.  I was going to suggest you disclose first, but I don't think there is going to be a way to get around some degree of distraction.

I'm not worried about the presentation, it's a technical one on something I specialize in.  (low field TD-NMR spectrometers and applications for them)

Doing the disclosure at the end was my idea, I don't want to look like an attention whore any more than I have to.  This meeting isn't about me, and I mention in the memo that I'm doing it now because it's the first time we've all been in one place in four years.

As for the employees in my region?  It's a sausage party, so it might be a bit before they get into the habit. 

Quote from: Colleen_definitely on September 28, 2017, 09:36:43 PM
Well hopefully I can be a bad influence for somebody! 

Looking back it was a lot easier to do than I feared it would be.

Colleen, I've been so wrapped up in my issues I completely missed your thread here.  Congrats on your great response.  I'm sure I'll have some family members that take it wrong like you have, but overall this has been great.  It givese a bit of hope that it's not all despair out there,

Hugs to you.

Bari Jo

In the grand scheme of things coming out as trans is a bit weird for most people, and you're bound to get some weird results.

But yes there absolutely is hope.

Hi Colleen,

  I just wanted to say good luck with the coming out at work today. I hope all goes well for you.

Hugs,
   Laurie

Thanks Laurie, but that's happening Thursday/Friday next week.  I'm currently editing the memo to the other guys and playing powerpoint jockey for my technical presentation. 

Quote from: Colleen_definitely on October 18, 2017, 12:34:00 PM
Thanks Laurie, but that's happening Thursday/Friday next week.  I'm currently editing the memo to the other guys and playing powerpoint jockey for my technical presentation.

  Sorry Colleen, I'm getting a lot of things wrong lately.  But  I still want to wish you the best possible outcome when it does happen. 

No worries, I do genuinely appreciate it.

The big day has arrived.  After my presentation yesterday and having two male fails at our group dinner last night, I think one of the guys is starting to suspect. 

The whole plan was nearly blown yesterday by a well meaning head scientist who called me Colleen.  Apparently HR forgot to mention the schedule or he missed it.  In any case the poor guy was mortified when he saw the look on my face and I shook my head and mouthed "not yet."  Thankfully the rest of the group was having other conversation and this guy has a pretty thick accent.  He did apologize and he is a genuinely nice person, later he let me know he was supportive and admired my courage.

In about five hours it's all out in the open anyway.  Here comes the jitters.

You will be fine Colleen and there will be such a feeling of relief for you after. ((HUG)) You will be okay . Deep breaths, deep breaths.

I just noticed the time and you are probably out now.  How did it go?

  Hugs,
   Laurie

Afraid not, still stuck in the meeting being subjected to managerial babble about software I'll never use at the moment.

Well Laurie you were right, it went just fine. I'm now in Midway airport dressed properly with a ticket that says Colleen and can't wait to go donate the rest of my guy clothes when I get home

Quote from: Colleen_definitely on October 27, 2017, 06:48:48 PM
Well Laurie you were right, it went just fine. I'm now in Midway airport dressed properly with a ticket that says Colleen and can't wait to go donate the rest of my guy clothes when I get home

Wow, big step!  That is so awesome.  When I lost weight I donated my fat boy clothes, that felt great too!

Colleen I am glad everything did go well I did want you feeling like you wanted to smack me for giving you a false feeling of confidence. Now I can relax as I am sure you did. Did you do any celebrating yet? Or does that come when you get home?

  Glad all is well Colleen.

Hugs,
   Laurie

Thanks to both of you  I had to get through Chicago rush hour traffic to Midway and return the car, change into something more befitting my new ID and get through security. Funny thing is I get fewer weird looks now than in boy mode and I'm nearly makeup free. Just a dab of concealer on my upper lip due to post laser inflammation shadow.  I've been full time at home and when I wasn't on customer sites for over a month now, so it's not a giant step.

So no celebrating yet, I'll have some wine with the girlfriend at home tonight. I had a great chat about the state of women in science with a lady next to me on the plane. 

The all employee email from HR about me went out an hour ago!

Quote from: Colleen_definitely on October 30, 2017, 07:12:07 AM
The all employee email from HR about me went out an hour ago!

Pins and needles!  Fill us in with the reactions!

Bari Jo