Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Unclean
I have concluded that the cleaning staff at my office hates me, and I am determined to win them over. Their disdain is very subtly expressed, to be sure, but it is undeniably present. It is in the way the recycling guy opens my office door without knocking while I am in the midst of an extremely vital personal phone call. It is in the condescending smile of the trash lady as she responds to my query as to her well-being with a terse "fine." It is in the occasional appearance, for several hours straight, of an unaccompanied and somewhat aromatic cleaning cart directly outside my door. And I swear to god I sometimes hear them laughing to each other about me and whispering things like "can't keep plants alive" and "has had the same Taco Bell cup in his office since he started here." It's pretty vicious.
As for the winning them over part of things, it's not going so well. The inquiring about well-being was actually the first part of that plan, and it was rejected with a casual ferocity. I'm also trying to smile a lot and act really happy about the removal of the trash, but I think that may just make me seem crazy (it doesn't take a lot). In the next few weeks I may escalate things into buying them first candy, then flowers, then small family sedans. If none of that works, I guess I'll just have to resign myself to being disliked. Or change jobs. Resigning myself to things is not really my forte.
I have concluded that the cleaning staff at my office hates me, and I am determined to win them over. Their disdain is very subtly expressed, to be sure, but it is undeniably present. It is in the way the recycling guy opens my office door without knocking while I am in the midst of an extremely vital personal phone call. It is in the condescending smile of the trash lady as she responds to my query as to her well-being with a terse "fine." It is in the occasional appearance, for several hours straight, of an unaccompanied and somewhat aromatic cleaning cart directly outside my door. And I swear to god I sometimes hear them laughing to each other about me and whispering things like "can't keep plants alive" and "has had the same Taco Bell cup in his office since he started here." It's pretty vicious.
As for the winning them over part of things, it's not going so well. The inquiring about well-being was actually the first part of that plan, and it was rejected with a casual ferocity. I'm also trying to smile a lot and act really happy about the removal of the trash, but I think that may just make me seem crazy (it doesn't take a lot). In the next few weeks I may escalate things into buying them first candy, then flowers, then small family sedans. If none of that works, I guess I'll just have to resign myself to being disliked. Or change jobs. Resigning myself to things is not really my forte.
