I’ve received some nice gifts from my colleagues this holiday season, but my favorite was a Bratz doll from two 20something girls in the office:

Their note--"Merry Christmas, Office Pimp!!!  Love, the Hoes"--is in reference to the fact that one of the girls, who is new to the company, apparently saw me talking to women and only women.  The fact is, I talk to many genders.  Well, at least two of them. But she told her boss, who is a good friend of mine, that she considered me to be the Office Pimp.  When I heard this, I sent her an email regarding some other subject and replaced my job title with “Office Pimp” in my email signature.  And so a nickname was born.

She and an ally of hers subsequently joined forces to bequeath me with Yasmin, a highly fashionable Bratz doll.  I wrote a carefully considered thank-you note to the both of them:

“Thanks for helping me find my new best friend.  We had a great time over the weekend putting glitter on ourselves and shopping.  And it’s great having someone else just like myself who understands the need for ‘High-Fashion STYLE!’ As office pimp, of course, she is available for general use.  Please contact me for rates (special seasonal discounts now in effect).”

Now that all the banter has died down, though, I’m wondering if this is really all just a joke. After all, the economy isn’t doing so well and we all need to be considering ancillary revenue streams.  10% of the gross doesn’t seem like such a bad deal to me--and besides, I think I’d really rock a leopard skin hat.