Me ‘n the Boys at Cymax

Our office at Cymax is laid out so that many rooms make up the entire workplace, and most rooms house a handful of people. My work station is situated in an office that I share with four men. Being the only female in my room, some might call me lucky, as I consider the boys to be too. But all jokes aside, I do feel pretty lucky – not because of my hypothetical odds, but because the boys treat me like one of them. They talk about cars and hockey, and I pride myself in being able to join in the conversations.

I was never a girly-girl. No Barbies, no Rainbow Brite, no My Little Pony for me. I got a Cabbage Patch Kid for my sixth birthday, and days later, I put her in make-shift shorts and a T-shirt and gave her a buzz cut (I similarly cut off the few strands of hair from a Care Bear I got a year later).

While other girls were swathing their arms in Bangles, and accentuating their teased bangs with fluorescent colored headbands, I wore my brothers’ hand-me-downs that consisted of a lot of camouflage and other Rambo-esque paraphernalia, as well as anything inspired by Karate Kid. I cut my own hair short. I shared my brothers’ army men, Transformers, BMX bikes, and Hot Wheels.

I was most comfortable in the driveway with a goalie stick in hand than anywhere else. In order to clear the driveway to play a game of hockey, we had to move the car (aptly named The Beast). Dad got sick of us bugging him, so all three of us kids ended up being able to drive a stick-shift by the age of nine. One day we decided to go a little further than our usual around-the-block route, and were pulled over by a perfectly stunned police officer, who asked us to please drive back home safely and to enjoy our day. And we always did.

I feel as though my childhood has prepared me for the workplace (not that I have run-ins with the police anymore). Although there are plenty of females who work at Cymax, I just happen to have my desk in a room with none. But the boys are fun, and what’s even more fun is our three o’clock ritual. Four of us get up from our desks, and with a mob mentality, walk past the lunch room and kitchen, into the games room, where the foosball table gleams at us.

Let me introduce you to the Cymax Foosball Team: We’ve got the Motivator, whose forward spinning techniques are praiseworthy (“You got ‘Mo-ed’ is a common response to his signature move); the Nobleman, who stays loyal to his defensive excellence and can handle his stickmen with an undefeatable grace; the Breeze, who scores goals with such an ease that they’re in the bin before you can see them coming, and then there’s me. The boys call me the Viper… patient until the moment of attack, where I bite with a quick vengeance.

Gone are the days of hockey in the driveway (for me, anyway), so I’ve set my sights on other things that will give me the same satisfaction. Inspired by the team spirit at Cymax, I have found a few items that I can purchase by way of online shopping at www.CymaxStores.com. I can’t decide whether to get a stick hockey table or whether to invest in an air hockey table. All I know is that I look forward to when I can invite my friends over – male and female – to have our own mini Stanley Cup playoff. Should I ever want to expand my games room, Cymax has everything from game chairs to pool tables. But regardless of what kind of game table I end up buying for myself, I will always be indebted to Team Cymax and the 3 pm break-downs.

W00t!