“I have grown so tired of the same old thing” – Jack Skellington

My job is weakening me. Jading me. It’s making me a worse person. I so look forward to the weekends, because it allows me a break from it all, and to recover my humanity. This is a good thing, becuase lately, by the end of the week…

I am one mean bitch.

It’s an easy thing to become when the majority of the people you get to deal with at work are drunk college kids, drunk homeless, and drug pushers. None of whom have the slightest iota of respect for anyone other than themselves. And they all like to piss wherever the hell they want to – one of my big pet peeves.

Tonight, for example. Coming down the stairs to an apartment complex, and what do I see right outside the gate? A drunk college guy pissing… right in the middle of the doorway. Not in a corner somewhere, but right where everyone walks. Come on! Is it going to kill you to look for a bush somewhere? This isn’t Modesto. It’s Portland. There is greenery everywhere!

So of course, my patience worn thin, I yelled at him. He didn’t realize who I was at first, and kept on peeing after I’d told him to zip it up. And when I got closer and yelled at him again “This is not your bathroom!” he saw who I was and got a little sheepish. Couldn’t even look me in the eye after that. But you know what? Next time he’ll be doing it again somewhere else. Becuase he’s one of those people that just doesn’t care.

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t make that kind of snap decision, but you know, I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t help it. I see so many people doing the same thing, that I no longer give the benefit of the doubt to anyone I don’t know.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Just when I’m at work. Which sucks, because sometimes I really want to. But there’s just no way to know.

And another thing… this one really gets me: There are three basic kinds of people I run into while working – the service people, the upper class people, and the shitty people. The shitty people will either be flat out hostile, or pretend to be friendly and then try and get away with anything they can behind my back.

The upper class people, when I wave to them, or nod politely (becuase it’s a nice thing to do, not becuase I feel they deserve it) will almost always scowl at me. What the hell is that all about? I’m the one making sure your pretty little Lexus doesn’t get broken into, and that’s what I get?

But the service people, now they have the connection. They know that my job is every bit as crappy as their job, and there’s a mutual respect. They’re the friendliest people out there. They almost always wave back, smile, or greet me. Often they do it first. So it would seem that it’s the slaves who have the most humanity of anyone.

And I like that. I like being able to relate to the working man. I like getting respect from the working man. But I just don’t like the kind of working man that I have to be to get it, becuase it’s making me not like everyone else.

Which means that sometimes, I don’t like myself, becuase I don’t always want to be a working man, and I haven’t always been a working man. However, I don’t think I ever scowled at a security officer… unless they scowled at me first.

Of course I laughed at some of them behind their backs. Which may not be any better, but hey, since I’m in the industry, I can recognize a slacker when I see one.

Man, I really need a new job.

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1 Comment

Boy, I’ll say you do!

There’s no way I’d be able to hack working in the cop/security field. No way at all. I have a hard enough time with the occasional tech support call. 🙂

You should get out of that racket now, before your Bullshit Meter EXPLODES!!!

Find a different job, dude. Something in the field of, oh, I don’t know…

*PHOTOGRAPHY*, perhaps? ;D

Posted by Adam Black @ 07/12/04 06:00 PM

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