Am I really that geeky? Coworkers say yes.
Because I’m a "high functioning" geek, I can typically blend into normal society and maintain a normal job for a non-geeky company. Even though I’m more comfortable in a geekier environment, I can still go for hours on end without mentioning the new action figures coming out or how the story arc of my favorite graphic novel has left me hanging.
But sometimes I realize what a geek I really am when geeky topics find their way into my mainstream conversations.
At work today, a few coworkers (who are in their mid-twenties) started talking about the Iron Man movie and how much they liked it.
I made a comment about how some people have a hard time with Iron Man’s character because of his responsibility for the recent death of another comic book hero (because saying "Captain America" wouldn’t mean anything to them).
"What do you mean?" one coworker asked.
Happy to play the knowledgeable geek, I told her a little about last year’s Civil War comic book arc.
"I didn’t know those things are still going on," she said.
"…" was my initial response. She was referring to comic books in general.
And then I blurted out something like, "Yeah, of course they are! How could you not… I mean…"
And my coworkers started at me, probably wondering if I was going to spontaneously combust into amusing little geek particles.
I returned to my cubicle and took solace in the plastic Spiderman toy that I got at Burger King last year. His eyes light up when you stick his magnet feet to metal, so I popped him on and off my metal shelf for a little while as I pondered my status as "high functioning" geek.
"Maybe not so much, perhaps?" I said to myself in a Zoidberg voice.
