There were these three assholes at work today, all of whom work for the company but do not regularly work in my office, that came right close to getting their asses handed to them. They were joined by the freeptard security guard who thought it all made a grand joke. They spent most of the morning talking among themselves, half complaining I, as self-proclaimed commander of the remote control for the day, was forcing them to watch the news instead of football previews for tomorrow and half making fun of the whole business. I tuned out most of it because I just could not deal with it at that moment, but things changed.
It all really got started with the shit-stain sitting nearest to me deciding I looked like I cared enough about his problems to unload on me about gasoline prices. I guess because I looked so unmoved (I was obviously trying to ignore him and watch the news in between doing pieces of my job) he asked, "Doesn't this just piss you off? Decent people can't even afford to drive anywhere." The trigger was the way he said "decent people" combined with my knowledge he was actually mad because he'd calculated how much more the jump in gasoline price was going to add to the cost of his vacation this weekend. This and an image on the television screen of an elderly, nearly dead refugee from New Orleans being fed bits of food by a medical aid worker made something snap.
"There are bigger things to worry about right now," I told him, and turned my attention back to the television screen. After a few moments he responded, "Aww, hell, it's their own damn fault they're there. They shoulda got out."
And I Went Off ... in front of a customer who had just walked in the front door. In the strangest bit of synchronicity I've experienced in awhile, however, this customer, after listening to my rant, which I genuinely tried to hush a bit knowing the guy was in there, actually thanked me. He apparently got the gist of what was going on and told me he was from Louisiana originally, still had family there, and hadn't heard from any of them since this all started. We talked, and he teared up a bit. "They're all poor <and black>, so ..." he started, and I finished, "they are being treated like dirt by these asses and the idiots who think this is all a big joke."
The Three Idiots and I sparred much of the rest of the day. The security guard told me he didn't realize how naive I was. Before leaving, I fired off a letter to my manager, my division manager, the regional VP, and the CEO of my company detailing what had taken place in the office today. I placed it in the context of e-mails we had been receiving from corporate headquarters about the search for our employees in the NO area that had gone missing and how the customer could have been offended enough by what was going on to have taken his business elsewhere.
I guess the bad part is that others in the office, more sympathetic, tried in calmer ways to help me out and settle me down. But, I was over the edge today, and no rope was pulling me back. I pissed off pretty much everyone, possibly will end up with a reprimand, and may have gotten someone else fired or at least reprimanded himself. I don't need this shit, but I'll be damned if I am going to sit there like some big, fat idiot and let that kind of sewage invade my mind.
Well, now ... that was more of a rant than I intended.
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