I was wondering if others have had as an absurd work environment as I do. Here is what happened yesterday.
I am a computer consultant right now stationed at a client site. There is an employee of the client who is the most obscene and gross person I have ever met. He is obsessed with serial killers, talks about “Checking out of life soon” and feels that America should set up a hierarchical caste system preferably with computer programmers (his job) and doctors at the top.
The guy walks in and outbursts “I was thinking about people who have grown up without the threat of physical violence in sheltered lives. I think I should become a Super Hero who goes around showing them what it is to live with that threat.” This statement was aimed at me because for some reason he has the impression that I have been handed everything in my life and have never had to work for anything. When I asked if he was threatening me he responded “Just stay the fuck away from Frank’s Deli and Daiquiris and Crèmes in Covington.” (His hang outs I guess)
While I was at lunch he taped my laptop shut with duck tape because he “Hates me” and that I am a “tool.”
Finally during another one of his rants he kept calling me “Finger Paint” out of disrespect for my job as a designer. I was fed up and called him out, he started screaming, and “You think you are better than me? This isn’t a direct threat only a general statement of fact, DON’T LET ME SEE YOU OUTSIDE OF THIS PLACE.”
I was not the only target of his wrath yesterday, but needless to say I quit. I will probably just be moved to another project but it is one of those anywhere but there situations.
denman [email] said at 11:19 AM 07-13-2005: This seemed crazy until you said Covington. Suddenlyl the DC crackheads don't seem all that difficult to deal with.
brandon [email] said at 12:54 PM 07-13-2005: Convington is a place full of people that really believe that Doctors, computer guys and stoutly built men should rule the world. They hate the negras, they hate the spics, they hate the uppity chicks.
brianbibbly [email] said at 11:52 AM 07-13-2005: You obviously haven't been to Covington recently Denman. It is the most whitewashed place on earth. All white flight and families from New Orleans.
denman [email] said at 1:13 PM 07-13-2005: No, it's true I probably haven't been there in at least four years. However most of my memories of Covington come from a few crazy friends from college.
myriam [email] said at 11:37 AM 07-13-2005: whoa dude.
This guy reminds me of a computer programmer I knew at school whom we called "Psycho Killer Chris". We were all just waiting for the day he walked in with an assault rifle or something. I'm still uneasy thinking about him.
josh [email] said at 11:38 AM 07-13-2005: dude you could probably press charges against this guy, but definitely you need to take thi sup with your company and his... seriously you could also sue them or something if they let him do this unstopped.
julie [email] said at 11:52 AM 07-13-2005: What the hell?!? I can't even imagine an office environment where this type of behavior is allowed to go on, unchecked. Where is his supervisor during all this? Yeesh.
meredith [email] said at 12:01 PM 07-13-2005: Oh my God, HE should have been fired! You shouldn't have to quit! What a fucking asshole! He obviously has severe psychological problems also. What goes through someone's head when they duct tape a coworker's lap top shut? I mean, seriously, "That tool, hehehehe, this'll show 'em! Show 'em how much I HATE HIM!! More tape, more tape..."
brandon [email] said at 12:37 PM 07-13-2005: You know you could sue that guy (and if you hate your company, them too) for what happened. Probably get him tossed into the pokey for making terroristic threats. Is that the correct way to spell pokey? I wouldn't mind being tossed into the Pokey who posts here, either.
emily [email] said at 12:58 PM 07-13-2005: Here is a recent memo that went out to the ladies of the museum. I still don't know what males were complaining.
Ladies:
I need to ask that each of you be more conscious of your attire in terms of revealing cleavage, the decision to go braless or wear a dark or brightly colored bra under a light colored top. I know it is summer and tops are cut lower and are more sheer and fashion is in the eye of the beholder. However, we also need to remember that that we work in a museum with a national reputation that appeals to a conservative clientele.
I have had several conversations with male staff, male volunteers and even one male vendor who stated that they felt uncomfortable when talking or meeting with some of our female staff where the female staff was displaying a lot of cleavage. None of us want to be subjected to rude or suggestive remarks from men because of our attire. Just because it works in Hollywood or the runways in Paris doesn't mean it works here.
brandon [email] said at 1:04 PM 07-13-2005: For fuck's sake, the writer ought to have addressed it to the "stenography pool" and to have called you "girls" throughout to match all the condescension in that message. Why do conservatives hate tits and handsome cleavage? Maybe it's because they're a bunch of fags.
meredith [email] said at 1:20 PM 07-13-2005: The only 'shocking' story I have to contribute comes from when I was working at the Farm Bureau. There was this one reporter who was a huge flirt. He was seriously one of those guys with the big southern accent that would waltz in and smile big and say things that, had he worked in a bank, would have gotten him fired instantly. My boss would repremand him constantly, saying that just about everything he said to me could be construed as sexual harrassment and that I could sue them. Most of the time I really didn't care because he was joking around, but I think there was one time when we were both in my bosses office and he said something and my boss and I were like, 'Hey, c'mon!' and my boss rolled his eyes and left the room and this guy turns to me and says, "C'mon, Meredith, you can't said you ain't askin' for it." And I was like "What?!" thinking ... maybe he's joking? Then he says, "You're always sittin' there twirlin' your hair, givin' me signals..." I was completely AGAST!!
I am a nervous hair twirler. I never thought it could be construed as flirting.
reggie [email] said at 1:27 PM 07-13-2005: I saw this thing on ITV the other week,
Said, that if she played with her hair, she's probably keen
She's playin with her hair, well regularly,
So i reckon i could well be in.
meredith [email] said at 1:33 PM 07-13-2005: That really kind of sucks. I play with my hair whenever I am bored or nervous. I have never done it when I liked someone. Unless I was bored or nervous at the same time that I was liking them.
reggie [email] said at 1:38 PM 07-13-2005: I know a coupla girls who twirl their hair incessantly and they do it all the time no matter who their talking to so I wouldn't worry 'bout it too much.
Then again, it's hard for me to argue with the Streets.
art said at 1:54 PM 07-13-2005: I'd be counting down the days until I left that job and then quietly fading away. When he finally goes postal, I wouldn't want him remebering me in any detail
andrew [email] said at 2:34 PM 07-13-2005: I theach kids to fish on the west side piers in Manhattan. City kids say the craziest things. "Are we going to catch any pumpkinfish?"..."I've been waiting 90 centuries!!!"
i admit, i am a little glad that he's showing you what it's like to live with the threat of physical violence. i kinda wish someone would show that to me sometimes. i get so sick of just being handed everything.
i wouldn't worry about this guy tho. sounds like he'll be "checking out of life soon".
reggie [email] said at 5:51 PM 07-13-2005: I'd rubber cement all of this dude's belongs to his desk. Then I'd pour non-dairy creamer all on his laptop keyboard then I'd print a picture of some kiddie porn, frame it and then glue it to his desk.
