Monday, September 12, 2005
"Look at you. Look at you now."
In the middle of the last, quiet, late hours of work the other night, a woman came into the call center looking for a credit card she'd lost. Just for the record, she was young -- oh, maybe 20-ish or so -- and pretty. "Barry", who works behind me, and I checked to see if there is a supervisor or some person of authority around. There was not. She thanked us and left.
Several minutes later, the quiet of the call center was cut open; someone's shift was nearing its end and calls weren't coming in, so it was time to stand up, stretch out, and shoot it. I still had enough shift left to be depressed about, so I continued to work. But I couldn't not hear the conversation of "Warren", the 50-something guy who sits a couple rows behind Barry. After a few minutes, Barry joins the conversation, giving Warren the opportunity to say this:
"Barry. Dude, what I would've given to be sittin' in your shoes when that pretty young thing came walking through here."
--
"I woulda given her MY credit card, heh-heh. No money on it, acourse. I -- she could take any one a MY credit cards! Course. No money on 'em. Wife's got all that. But she could take 'em, all right. That was some pretty, young little thing, all right."
I know I've become a lot less fun and interesting than I may have once been. Because I didn't turn around and say what was on my mind:
"So this is what you've got? You're the new guy in the call center, and you want to bond with another guy, so this is how you do it? Loudly drool over the woman who walks through? Classy. And the "Dude" greeting -- that was an interesting choice for you. You're 50. Barry's 28. Way to get down with the kids, man. Of course, you didn't really notice how Barry didn't respond to you, did you? Guess you didn't think too much about it being weird that a 50-ish married guy would drool over someone his daughter's age. Or maybe Barry didn't respond to you BECAUSE HE'S GAY, YOU IDIOT. Nice strategy. Get to know people better by pointing out hot chicks to gay guys. Brilliant. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?"
So a few minutes later, on his way out, Warren walks by and says, "Will, you're so quiet over here." And normally, I would come out with some sort of smart response. But sometimes I'm just so disgusted by somebody that I don't make the effort. Laziness via disgust. To me, it's not just that Warren revealed himself as a dirty old man. He's a clueless, stupid, dirty, old man. So I just said, "What can I say?" and went back to work. Instead of saying:
"Look at you. Look at you now. Strutting out of here like you run the place. When you get home tonight and jack off to that 'pretty young thing', do so in front of the mirror so you can get a good look at yourself to see what you've become. Dude."
Several minutes later, the quiet of the call center was cut open; someone's shift was nearing its end and calls weren't coming in, so it was time to stand up, stretch out, and shoot it. I still had enough shift left to be depressed about, so I continued to work. But I couldn't not hear the conversation of "Warren", the 50-something guy who sits a couple rows behind Barry. After a few minutes, Barry joins the conversation, giving Warren the opportunity to say this:
"Barry. Dude, what I would've given to be sittin' in your shoes when that pretty young thing came walking through here."
--
"I woulda given her MY credit card, heh-heh. No money on it, acourse. I -- she could take any one a MY credit cards! Course. No money on 'em. Wife's got all that. But she could take 'em, all right. That was some pretty, young little thing, all right."
I know I've become a lot less fun and interesting than I may have once been. Because I didn't turn around and say what was on my mind:
"So this is what you've got? You're the new guy in the call center, and you want to bond with another guy, so this is how you do it? Loudly drool over the woman who walks through? Classy. And the "Dude" greeting -- that was an interesting choice for you. You're 50. Barry's 28. Way to get down with the kids, man. Of course, you didn't really notice how Barry didn't respond to you, did you? Guess you didn't think too much about it being weird that a 50-ish married guy would drool over someone his daughter's age. Or maybe Barry didn't respond to you BECAUSE HE'S GAY, YOU IDIOT. Nice strategy. Get to know people better by pointing out hot chicks to gay guys. Brilliant. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?"
So a few minutes later, on his way out, Warren walks by and says, "Will, you're so quiet over here." And normally, I would come out with some sort of smart response. But sometimes I'm just so disgusted by somebody that I don't make the effort. Laziness via disgust. To me, it's not just that Warren revealed himself as a dirty old man. He's a clueless, stupid, dirty, old man. So I just said, "What can I say?" and went back to work. Instead of saying:
"Look at you. Look at you now. Strutting out of here like you run the place. When you get home tonight and jack off to that 'pretty young thing', do so in front of the mirror so you can get a good look at yourself to see what you've become. Dude."
