"No chance of the yellow brick road now": DeVille saga pt 2

Today my co-workers and I danced around the empty desk where my troublesome co-worker once sat, singing "Shes gone...shes gone" all the while awkwardly dancing other-worldly jigs to the tune of the Wizard of Oz soundtrack. It was still a bit of a crazy day today, though this day marked the first in which her absence was relished. You see, she didn't just leave quietly. No no, she had to go and do something stupid. And stupid it was on many levels.

This morning I go to work expecting her not to be there, but dreading that stomach dropping feeling of seeing that weird backside of her head, that so invoked a sort of comical pavlovian effect, which made me almost want to shout "Everyone I'm not glaring at her...can I have your attention please...I would like you all to know that I am not looking into her eyes with embittered sentiments....thank you....and carry on!" Instead she is gone, and I curiously have an extra skip in my step, and a calm in my chest. After about an hour of being at my desk, I hear my co-worker get a call from someone, and it went something like this:

"Hey good morning...yeah...so I heard...WHAT!?!....no...I never did....no that was Luke...no way..." and so it went, you get the jist. When he was done, he looked over his cubicle and began telling me of the allegations that our terse lil co-worker is throwing around. Apparently him and I walked by her cubicle once one day, and in a spout of hatred towards her, he slapped his hands on her desk, and I slapped her across the face. HA! Before I could develop my "guy only" theory about her actions, I then learned that her immediate supervisor would repeatedly stand behind her desk, stomping her feet, and has been known to occassionally flick off our poor co-worker...allegedly. If I spent the rest of my day with my jaw open, it would not bring justice to the awe I felt at that moment.

One thing that this experience has given me, is a social profile for a truly crazy person, into which I'm sure more people down the road of life I'll live will bring others into. When I was going through this, I found myself at a lack for words to describe her, her actions, and my feelings towards her in this scenario. None of us at the SunTimes have ever heard of anything like this, and boy was it a quick school program for learning how to deal with conflict.

I'm sure the ENTIRE company knows of this...people everywhere are talking to me about it, giving me joking stares and then chuckling. The best one was by this one guy who came up to me during lunch and was like "stop staring at me....noooooo" and pretended to be melting. Everyone seems to be getting a kick out of it.

But let me draw your attention to a detail of this matter that I want everyone to think through. First thing is, we are a society of people...a collective people, a family (as dysfuntional as it may be). Second thing, put yourself in her shoes. I'm going to guess that mentally she may not be the sharpest tool in the shed (and really which one of us is truly sharp all the time....with or without our coffee), and has had situations in other jobs. There is a proverb that says "out of the mouth the heart speaks", and the things that she just went through here were not environment dependent, but something shes going through at home, with her family, or with a loved one...really who knows. But one thing is for sure, as a society we may be all too quick to poke, prod, and criticize at others expenses. This scenario is a bit different in that, what she did was just plain uncalled for, and outrageous. But I want to remind everyone of whos reading this, of the healing power of friendship. Don't forget to reach out and do the uncomfortable thing to people, because who knows, this co-worker may not have had many friends, I could see how such a person who keeps everyone at arm lengths away won't let friends into her life. To some degree this is true of all of us. I guess my challenge is simply this: get to know those around you. Take a break from work and just say hi. God made us to be social. I wonder how much of this could have been prevented if we were just more friendly. We spend most of the total day hours of our lives at work.

"Are you glaring at me?" DeVille saga, pt.1

I love challenges, and I guess that's why I've set out on this blogging adventure. A while ago, I was doing one of those personal temperament profile test things, and I took the test and found the essay that "explained" my temperaments and attitudes to be fairly accurate. It said, I rise to challenges, that I am not satisfied with the ho-hum of life, and when others may desist, I persist! I guess that may explain the reason why I'm doing this. I love puzzles, and this lady I work with is totally baffling everyone. Before I get any further I must provide some backdrop.

Meet my curious cubicle neighbor, Miss Cruella DeVille (code name for the blog...its therapeutic for me to call her that, c'mon), about 33 years of age, single, African-American, dreads, modestly dressed with nothing extreme and actually wears an abnormal number of full length skirts down to the ankles (I notice because such conservative dress is abnormal in this "exposed" society...and you may be thinking "Wow Luke, no wonder you're having drama, you yourself are staulking her and the clothes in her closet"...I also mention this because I believe this to be significant...not sure how currently). She started working for the Mobile Devices department of the SunTimes Newspaper at Merchandise Mart. Her first day was about a month ago, and she was friendly, saying hi to all who came by her desk, and for the first week we had friendly conversations back and forth...mostly light conversation. Her wit had a delightful jovial spirit at the center with soft sarcasm around the edges. Not offensive, nothing crazy, just witful joking around.

This is where the mystery begins, where Dr. Jekyl under the light of the moon mysteriously changes form and turns into...well its not that hideous of a situation, but its super intriguing. Somewhere right after her first week, she began to be frank and terse, almost to the extent that the DeVille I knew no longer existed, and it was as if night turned to day, as if in fit of rage, she like Jake in "Twilight", began to morph into a giant wolf creature...not really but you get the picture...it was sudden.

Soon, attempts at making small talk brought responses, like "Luke, actually I'm going to get back to work now, if you don't mind" preceded by a long annoyed stare. I can respect a womans desire to make it as successful and work hard, and push through lunches for the sake of productivity. We all make sacrifices sometimes.

So for a about a week I didn't bother her, I let her be. She became increasingly somber, and her interactions with people grew shorter and more frank. But at about week two of her time there, I looked over my cubicle to see if my co-worker Jim was sitting at his desktop, when a stern annoyed voice spoke to me, "Luke are you GAZING at me? Are you looking at me? Do you NEED anything?" As my guess that the look of someone in awe and the look of "caught-with-your-hand-in-the-cookie-jar" are quite similar, she thought she caught me, but really I was like...."whaaaaaaa?" I said, "excuse me?", she seemed pissed at this point. "Do not gaze at me...do you need anything?" Again, I'm like "whaaaaa?" So I say, "No....no I was looking for Jim...over there" as I pointed in his direction. She just lowered her head with a scowl.

I returned to my normal position facing my computer, which is opposite of her desk.

What does a good mannered gentlemen do, who doesn't want to get slapped with false sexual harrassement charges, but wants to honor the common woman in the workplace? "Leave her alone," was the advice I received from many respected woman including my wife (baby I love you, you give the best advice in the world). So I did, much against my "fix-it" tendency I have...I made it may life-goal NOT to make eye contact, and for the last two weeks, I succeeded....only in my own perspective I guess, because today I was caught "glaring" at her, while emptying my loose leaf tea into the trash.

This is where my gears of puzzle solving start to make an annoying screaching sound as my gears are running so fast they're running out of the oil of previous learned experience...this is something entirely new and befuddling!! In fact, I have no gear for this...I'm spinning free, no teeth to catch on the wheel of the next gear. So I'm not even looking at her, but apparently I was "glaring" at her this time. In fact as I was looking at the trash can, she started talking to me, and as I raised my head, I found she was already staring at me. This was our conversation:

DeVille: "Do you need anything? Stop glaring at me Luke!"

Me: "What are you talking about?"

DeVille: "If you want anything, just use my name, don't glare at me."

Me: "Deville, I don't want anything....I wasn't glaring at you I was emptying my tea....."

DeVille: "JUST....don't glare at me....use my name. That's all I ask."

Me: "I wasn't glaring at you, I was....*insert sigh*....this in your head DeVille, its all in your head"

DeVille: "Whatever, don't glare at me, that's all I ask."

Me: "This is a game in your head DeVille, I went out of my way to NOT look at you for the past two weeks DeVille....this is one big game all in your head."

DeVille: "Don't stare at me."

Then....it was over. I turned back to my seat, trembling with adrenaline through my body! I successfully don't know what to do. She's crazy!!

The current fix on the situation is to put a bulletin board between our cubicles, so she can't see me "glaring" at her, while I face the opposite direction and work on my computer. All this is not so en-angering anymore, just super duper uber perplexing! I'm working with someone as mysterious as mystery itself on a foggy evening in London, and its causing me to want to figure her out.

And now on a serious note:

I've been praying for her, I don't know if she's going through something with her family, a death, or is just emotionally despondent right now, who knows but my Father in heaven.

I'll keep writing as long as interesting things keep happening! This is so fun....and therapeutic!