Erkel

At work there is a security guard who I have to interact with regularly. He is socially awkward, at best. Unfortunately, he never learned good ways to interact with others and, I’m sure, had a difficult life because of this.

Now generally I’m pretty understanding and don’t mind helping these folks practice, through positive and negative reinforcement, appropriate behaviors. Can you tell yet that I am a Psychology major?

Anyway, I have tried to push down the eye rolling and grimaces while interacting with this guy but it keep getting harder and harder. He has moved from just awkward to rude occasionally as well. I’m not sure that he know he is being rude though… So, while not with him, I have taken to calling him Erkel. Harsh, but pretty accurate (pants and all.) Well, this nick name has kinda taken root with the other staff and now he is generally referred to as Erkel now.

Woops! I think this mean spirited nickname may fall under bullying. Damn it! I HATE bullies! Even knowing this, I still can’t seem to stop calling him Erkel. It has turned into my way of venting about him.

Naughty Scale, 1-5. How terrible am I for continuing to call him that? Should I stop or keep this venting tool so I can tolerate him while face-to-face?

Obviously an Idiot

If you have never heard of Ted Talks, I encourage you to Google and enjoy! Miss Kathryn Schultz gives a talk “On Being Wrong.” It is genius. Anyway, it talks about the assumptions we place on others when they do not agree with us. Since this is related, and funny, I thought I’d share.

So when people don’t agree with you:

1. Ignorant Assumption: Obviously they do not have all the facts. After you enlighten them with the “truth” they will change their minds.

When that does not work…

2. Idiocy Assumption: Okay, they have the fact but are too stupid to put them all together.

When that does not work it leads to the final assumption…

3. Evil Assumption: They have all the facts and are smart, so obviously they are, with malice, acting against the good and truth you are representing.

I find myself often following these assumptions. For instance: my aloof, slob, conniving, lazy co-worker. We both work in the same department and, unfortunately, since we work opposite shifts, have to share the same work space. Now, students who come in see this mess she leaves on the desk and I mean MESS… ALL THE TIME. I usually spend 10-15 minutes every time she leaves the desk cleaning up after her. (our shifts do overlap a few hours) This mess includes used Kleenex, dried noodles on the keyboard, random papers everywhere, chip crumbs, etc. You get the picture.

I have confronted her about this on multiple occasions and she says that she works best in this “environment.” OMG! Are you bleeping kidding me?!? Okay, I’m not sure if she is bright enough to make it to the evil assumption…

This leads me to my scenario. It is a little different because I have not done this potentially naughty act yet… I am thinking of taking a picture each time she leaves the desk and presenting irrefutable, photo evidence to my boss. Now this may seem drastic but I have gone to him MULTIPLE times about this issue to no avail. Mostly though, I want to get her in trouble though, rather than  the more important issue of showing a presentable space to the students.

Every day I think that there is no way I could possible like her less, but then it happens.

So, on naughty scale, 1-5? I will also take alternate suggestions on how to handle this problem. I hope b*tch slapping is one of my choices… just sayin’.