The girl who sits right next to me is my kryptonite. She is such a genuinely nice person that I can't even respond sarcastically to such gimme's as:

• Does anyone have a need for extra ice skating tickets?
• Is anyone else sad about Reese and Ryan?
• I am collecting money for homeless dogs does anyone want to contribute

In college I had a boss who was all Unicorns, Puppies, and Cupcakes. She would dot her i's with stars and hearts. She owned every Disney movie. She would tell us how great we were. She would email us inspirational thoughts. She would take interest in our personal lives. She really seemed like she cared. Then one day I needed to do something. It wasn't a big thing, but it would mean that I would miss watching Dawson's Creek or where she was making lasagna for everyone. Immediately she turned, the sweetness was completely drained. It was all a ruse. It was all a sham. She was faking it all. She was still my boss so I still had to play some of the reindeer games, but on the inside and in asides with colleagues I mocked it all. Somewhere though I still have the sticker she gave me "Who I am Makes a Difference". Yeah Okay.

But now the girl sitting next to me is so altruistic, so earnest, so sincere that I just can't mock. In a way it is refreshing, in a way it is a nice change from my first instinct to be snarky, in a way it is completely frustrating. Besides all of that, the homeless dogs of New York are now 5 dollars richer.