Wink

What is it with people (not cats) who wink? I'm not referring to the sassy come hither winks. I'm talking about the business wink. The at-work wink. What IS that? And how does the male corporate wink differ from the female corporate wink? What has brought this on? Let's explore this shall we?

i've been "winked" at by two different people at work. Once by a scruffy older gentleman with a corner office, who despite the immediate mental associations, is actually a cool guy. When I sat down with him in one of the first meetings i had with him, he threw his hands up at a chart and said, "This makes no fucking sense!" Brilliant, because I love people who curse out loud. The second winker is female. I'll get to her in a second...

So the older gentleman wink.... I was emerging from the kitchen with a frothy beverage, and he was headed in the opposite direction. I smiled my usual cubicles-are-not-meant-for-humans-but-I'm-pushing-through-the-pain grin, which was met by a quick and chirpy wink, if winks can be chirpy.

Here are my quick and dirty interpretations:

-"Hey...you're on my radar!"
Possible Meaning: I'm familiar with the work you've been doing, so keep it up?

-"How YOU doin'?"
Possible Meaning: This is how I greet ALL the ladies!

-"Hello there"
Possible Meaning: My bank account frickin' kills, how YOU doin'?

All reasonable guesses, none too offensive. My take on this is sociological. I mean, what's the point of letting that in?

But on to the second aforementioned female winker. The occurances are so random:

Situation 1:
I'm talking with someone and she walks by, and does the passing-by-wink

Situation 2:
We're talking about nonsensical things and she'll say, "so i basically eat an apple every morning.." and then the period-end-of-the-sentence-wink!

Situation 3:
I'm talking to other people, she walks into the room, catches my eye and there it is, another hey-i-see-you-wink!

For some reason, i find her winks to be less predictable, yet with more wacky interpretations. Quite frankly, I find them a bit annoying. They're like shorthand or something. Shorthand, for what? Is it a conspiratorial in-the-trenches thing, a secret club sans club thing, or an unconscious nervous thing? There's no need to decide!

So what would you say? Male winker: possible meaning 1, 2, or 3? Female winker: compulsive tick or hey-you're-my-people?

I really don't think that neither of the male nor female winks are flirty in nature, given the space in which they were delivered. And yes, you never know, but my senses tell me that the corporate wink is one that is part conspiratorial and part revelational.

One can easily keep a lot repressed in a corporate environment--true thoughts, feelings, opinions, attitudes, etc. So maybe the wink is the only harmless and untraceable flag that waves amongst people breathing recycled air? Its message can't be saved into a hard drive, not cc'd to anyone else, nor forwarded via voicemail. A well choreographed wink can simply disappear into the air, silent yet resolute....

Maybe I should stop analysing and start drafting my own wink strategy?