dontcaredonot-blog - Tumblr blog

[dontcaredonot-blog]

Roger Robert

Negativity is a poison, esp in the workplace. All it takes is one person to really set the mood and suddenly one bad apple turns into two. Remember Private Ryan from my last post? Well it seems our manager had a one on one talk with him the other day and laid it out as clear as possible; You’re freaking out everyone with your words and demeanor. It would explain why he’s been more....subdued of late. But he’s still creepy. Yesterday at work, I noticed he had been pacing up and down the aisle. I was helping a customer with some expensive product which we keep in lock up. As I was done helping the customer, I noticed Private Ryan standing maybe 5 feet from me, arms crossed, just looking down on me. Not even saying a word. I could feel him staring right at me. So fucking weird and creepy. Well it seems misery loves company, in comes another lad named Robert. Funny how the two most disliked people in our company have names that start with the letter “R” in their names. lol Robert looks like he got Rob Stewart's 80′s haircut, but its a weird kind of brown. Almost like a shade of Auburn . He is a master at looking busy without actually being busy. He’s a fairly slender man, but his face turns to leather from years of fun in the sun and late nights. If you had an asshole on your elbow, you’d have to name it Robert, because that’s how useful he is. It’s been mumbled between co-workers as to why he was even hired on. Robert comes off as the kid in school that got made fun of because he always felt like he knew more than the rest. Think....a goody-two-shoes but with more self entitlement and a way worse work ethic than a sleepy Mexican at Home Depot. Robert has been hanging out with Private Ryan more. Fitting that the outcasts found each other and even more fitting that they both complain about how things are done at work. Robert’s new thing is that he likes to be vocal of how he’s stuck on till everyday. The reason he is there is because that’s the only thing they trust him with. Handling money and transactions. Even then he somehow can mess that up. At anything else, he’s slow and bad at, so you keep his ass on till and make him earn his stripes. The reality is.... Robert doesn’t know much about the job, nor is he good anywhere else other than the till. He’s a till jockey. He hasn’t made an attempt to better himself or learn and the times I’ve given him duties to prove himself, he’s failed. Yet Robert doesn’t see this. He lives in a fantasy world where everyone gets a chance to do a thing. He believes in equality in work duties, which in a perfect world makes sense, but I see past Robert’s bullshit. He says these things because he wishes to slack around. He cannot do that when on till. I literally watched him start his day off by hiding from customers. I mean he actually hid from customers. Ducking behind the till, not making eye contact, pretending he’s fiddling with papers in front of him, when in actuality he’s shuffling nonsense. I know his game, because I used to do the same thing when I was 22! But Robert isn’t 22....he’s not even 32....the guy is pushing mid 40′s and along with him comes this poor attitude which believes he’s entitled to more hours regardless of seniority and more (different) job duties. Remember Joe Pesci in home alone? Everytime that character would wanna curse, he went, “Moth...da....fug....cha.....goooood...” I hear that sound one day approaching me, but I’m too busy to look up, as i’m doing that stuff called “Work”. As of load from one cart to the shelves I notice a small shadow come out from the corner of my eye. Within seconds, the frail body of Robert is in front of me. A stiff Robert looking like a scarecrow with a head on a swivel begins to vent about the ladies we work with. He starts off with, “I’m sure she’s a nice person BUT...” His two minute rant went on about how the women we work with are so slow, how he’s been stuck on till all day and why he doesn’t get a chance to work the floor. I really want to stop him and tell him, “You know what? those thoughts you have about those women are the same exact thoughts I have about you!” I refrain. He clearly looks frustrated, yet all I can wonder is, “If you’re here...who’s serving the customers?!” I don’t even bother trying to etch him on, I simply nod my head as I do work, because the last thing I wanna do is involve myself into a conversation with a co-worker who’s stock is falling fast. But I am also an evil asshole. For how I see it, if he gets less and less favorable with everyone, the more potential hours I can get out of it.  They will call me first before him. They will extend my shifts over him. They will give me more leeway than him. Of course this is trickier than it looks. If I keep bringing up how bad Private Ryan and Roger Robert are, the more it seems like i’m complaining. Which looks like nagging regardless if the words I say are true or not. Sooner than later they won’t even come up to me, because they will associate talking to me is only going to lead me to bitching about others. So I have the thread lightly, which I am. I’m already climbing the ladder and I pick and choose when to strike. For now, I’m the puppet master. These ungrateful and negative people don’t belong in this cushy job. They complain and complain and are never thankful. Couple that with their weird attitudes and sub par work ethic and you get a potential infection that could spread to others. I won’t allow that. So it is up to me, the master of puppets to play this game till the end... 

[dontcaredonot-blog]

Private Ryan

Upon first observations, he looks normal. He over compensates his lack of intelligence with an avant garde approach of personality. He doesn’t look unusual. His hair is cropped short and parted; think like a greaser from you 1950′s. The blond hair goes with the blue eyes, but when you look directly into them, you can almost tell there is no soul behind them. His teeth are the first obvious flaw you may notice. The first four teeth come straight across, not like a curve on most mouths. This is a result from a workplace accident he suffered years ago, when a pressurized cap shot off a hose and hit him directly in the mouth. The result was that he lost all his front teeth. Looks like a chinese dentist botched the job.   The hard part is reading him. His guard is always up and if you manage to squeeze past that guard, you’d wish you hadn’t. The man sits up with his arms crossed when talking, you can just tell he’s had a hard upbringings. His dead eyes peering into the talker, trying to wrap his head around the words. He has a very limited scope of acceptance. There was this one time he was reading the editorials in the back of a social newspaper. The article in question was about a woman who likes to rub up on and against men in the subway as a kink. He read this and instantly blew up, throwing the paper on the table expressing his passionate views. “If a MAN did that and said something about it, he would go directly jail! This equality bullshit is unfair man, these fucking people.” He had a tendency to be short tempered. I figured it’s because he’s a smoker and doesn’t get enough smoke breaks, but the more interactions I have with him, the more I see that it is more than that. He’ll go from moments of stillness to cursing in frustration. Just last night he came out of his way, directly to me and said, “The last three customers didn’t even look me in my fucking eyes, can you fucking believe that?!” I wanted to say, “I don’t give a fuck, I’m trying to load”, but I simply tried to sound interested with, “Why do you think that?” (Maybe it’s cause you’re looking at them like their the first black faces you’ve ever seen? Or maybe it’s cause you come off intimidating before you even open your mouth?) His response was classic, “HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?!” Okay, so that’s when I knew that I was dealing with a man, who was more keen on pointing out problems than finding solutions. I could kind of hear that same sediment when he would open up and talk about his life. It’s always someone elses fault. For that reason, I do not trust him.... He’s all over the place inside that head of his. And what’s worse is that he thinks we are good pals. Somehow he found out I play guitar and ever since, every single day, no matter what I’ve said the day before, he asks, “So when we jamming?!” You would have never guessed a 40 something year old, with three daughters, who’s traveled all over the country, considers himself a tattoo artist (despite his atrocious tattoo’s on him, to be a lonely guy. He’s known for pushing people away rather than letting them in, so should I feel honored? Or should I be worried that I would end up being a lamp shade?!  I’ve come up with several excuses as to why I can’t play. Ranging from my friend has my guitar to me injuring my wrist. He still won’t let up. In many ways he reminds me of my step brother, in the sense that those two can only connect with people on, two...maybe three topics over a lifetime, because they themselves are boring people. Here’s the alarming thing. I walked into the break room yesterday ready to start work. He’s there sitting as per usual, arms crossed talking to two other gentlemen about this shootings in schools in America. I didn’t bother to join in because I don’t actually like anyone there. It takes a lot of patience and will to sit down and talk to those folk and I was just starting. I did not need an uphill battle this year. However I did eavesdrop like the fucker I am. Seems like our boy here Private Ryan detailed how when he was in highschool he was bullied on everyday. He also mention that if he was a teenager with access to guns, he would have easily gone and shot up the school to make them pay. Chilling eh? Because the behind the scene joke with most of the staff at the store is, “Private Ryan seems like the type to come in one day and shoot up the entire store” Then I hear his views on what he would do if he could....and it suddenly makes sense... I dunno if I should report this...or like say something to him....but it’s chilling. I try my hardest not to interact with him, but he follows me like a lost puppy. Can he not tell that I am merely just putting up with him?! And he has this attitude like he knows everything. You know how draining that is?! When I came up with the fake wrist injury, he suddenly was an expert on wrist healing techniques. Offered me his own techniques, his own quarries on what happened and what needs to be done. One time I was talking to another employee about fixing things. More like me. explaining as a kid trying to fix things by opening them up and seeing how they work. He interjected with his own stories, totally cutting in and taking over the conversation. “Vacuums are totally simple....” and “Just take off the covering for the AC unit and give it a good clean, that’s usually the reason they don’t work” *Rolls eyes* Because he has an answer for everything, it also means that he’s always watching. Watching who goes on break, who comes back late from break. Say something to him in a tone he doesn’t like and he molts like an insect. First internalizing it all...then slowly spewing out from his shell into the direction of anyone who would listen. I really think he could be Donand Trump’s love child, just by the way of contempt he has for women. His personal views are so archaic. Think....If Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump had a love child, Private Ryan would come out as theirs. The looks of Trump, the mentality towards women like Weinstein. I dread working with his guy. He tries so hard to befriend me and I don’t feel comfortable around him. When this guy admit that he’d drink whatever is in front of him because that’s the way he was taught (which is why he doesn’t bring a case home, because he’ll drink it all), makes me wonder what self control he really has. The whole leather jacket and steel toe boots look would fit a kid growing up, but not a 40 something year old who clearly has some issues he hasn’t gotten over. Now I find my work days working around him, keeping away from him and the times I do interact with him, it’s one of three topics of conversation. “When are we jamming?!” “When are we going out for drinks?!” “When you getting your next tattoo?!” Guys....I’m running out of excuses..... Lord help us all...