Eccedentesiast

No, I didn't just pass out on my keyboard.  It is a real word.  

The Urban Dictionary (which in my opinion is a thousand times better than any other published dictionary to date) defines an Eccedentesiast as someone who fakes a smile.*

"Is this you today", my colleague Sandra asked me after I shared with her the word of the day. "That is me every day", I replied.

I am a complete Eccedentesiast at work, partly because the only way I can get through the day at work is to laugh at the things that happen instead of pulling out my hair and screaming.  And partly because some of the things that happen at work are so super crazy that I just have to smile and laugh about it.

I often feel like I am in a POW camp, with my interrogator shouting the question "What is the problem with Michael Jackson**" at me and expecting me to come up with a reasonable answer or be electrocuted and tortured.  I understand the words, and I understand how you have formulated the words to form a question.  I am just not sure what the question means or how I am supposed to answer it.

Yes, much of my work day involves fake smiling while swearing inside my head.  Occasionally I swear out loud. Very out loud. But thanks to the below memo, I have cut back on my swearing by using the handy alternatives suggested below.

*The alternate definition of Eccendentesiast is "Someone whoe hides behind a smile, when all they want to do is hide and/or die".  This is also true at work.  I have lately taken to hiding behind my computer screen when I sense my colleagues are about to ask me a question.  But unfortunately they always seem to know that I am there. Behind the screen. Fake smiling... 

**A line from the movie "Three Kings". If you haven't seen it, you should cos it is awesome.