As you are aware I have been out of the office sick for the past two days and it turned out ot be a good thing. No one likes being sick, but this time there was a silver lining to the black cloud of the creeping crud. Timing is everything. Here's the tale.
"Too bad you were out yesterday. You missed a great free lunch at On the Border," says my co-worker Johnny-boy as I sit testing a very boring database fee structure. "We were out of the office for two hours!"
"Yeah," chimes in Andrew. "The L-man (that's the company Executive VP) took the whole office out to celebrate and it was on him."
"To celebrate what?" I ask already knowing the answer.
"George Bush being re-elected of course," replies Andrew.
"I would not have gone. That's not a reason to celebrate. More like a funeral wake," I replied matter of factly as I continued testing. Andrew and Johnny-Boy fell silent and just stared at me. Jonny-boy broke the long silence first.
"Are you serious? You are serious aren't you?"
"Yes." Tap on the keyboard. Look at the monitor. The data looks okay. I really do not want to get into this with my co-workers.
"But it was free lunch at On the Border. Even a free drink! We all had a Margarita!"
"Guys, I personally do not see Bush being re-elected as a reason to celebrate or to toast. I would not have gone and that is that. Let's just leave it at that and not get into this."
"That would have pissed off the L-man," said Andrew.
"Then he would have had to be pissed. That's not my problem. I am going to be pissed if you push this. Let it be."
"Okay. Sure," said Johnny-boy and the room fell quiet. The only sounds were the tapping of keyboards and classical music. I am disappointed in my fellow co-workers who don't support Bush and who went to lunch for the free food anyway. My respect for them has seriously dropped. I don't whore myself out and sell my principals for a free bean burrito and a Margarita. To me it was a not so free free lunch.
the problem is nobody thinks anybody's integrity is worth more than a bean burrito these days - least of all their own. That's sad.
Posted by: Lynn on November 4, 2004 02:52 PMI've had free lunch today and yesterday because the service engineer for my ICP-AES instruments was in doing repairs and enjoys the company while he's eating lunch. He needs to come to my site so seldom that he usually always treats for lunch. We catch up on news about our families, jobs, the world situation,etc. We often have very differing views and enjoy the intellectual discussions immensely. Hopefully, tomorrow we will be celebrating the successful repairs to my instruments. Bon appetit!
Posted by: jenne on November 4, 2004 03:43 PMAre you a little bit Klingon? "Drink not with thine enemy!" as the Klingon saying goes. Of course I doubt that you consider your co-workers your enemy. I certianly am not an enemy. You can drink with me. ;-) tee hee
Posted by: SuzieQ on November 4, 2004 03:48 PMI think it's so funny that Bush won! HA HA HA, WILL! The people have spoken, and BUSH IS THE WINNER!
Ha ha ha, I knew that douche Kerry wouldn't make it.
Slainte,
Brean
Posted by: Brean on November 5, 2004 10:18 AMWay to stand up for your principles. Plus, it's more than a little assholish to push partisan politics in the workplace. The L-Man sounds like a real dick. Bully for you, Will.
PP
Posted by: Professor Pan on November 5, 2004 10:39 AMYo Brean, are you from the Isle of Man? It's not every day that we hear from the Manx.
(BTW...you are right on...)
Posted by: Jeff on November 5, 2004 11:24 AMWill you never sease to amase me! Love it. You should have been a teacher!
Posted by: Joe on November 5, 2004 02:42 PMThe people have spoken?
Isn't it a coincidence that exit polls in Florida and Ohio showed Kerry a little bit ahead, but their electronic, paperless voting machines that leave no physical evidence of individual votes cast, manufactured by a company whose president said publicly that he'd do everything he could to get Bush elected, showed Bush ahead just enough to beat the possibility of a turn-around in the provisional and absentee ballots?
Isn't that just an amazing coincidence?
Posted by: Thomas G. Atkinson on November 6, 2004 03:01 PMWell I'm right behind you on the not whoring out for a free lunch thing, brother. But you know what, that situation is a good snapshot of what happened in this election. False, short-term self-satisfaction and empty promises winning out over rationality, integrity and insight. I don't think we have to mention intelligence.
Sure, the people have spoken. And those people have just lost every shred of international respect that they so barely clung to before the re-election of that trash in the Whitehouse. Yeah, good luck with that economy. But hey, just think about that $4 you just saved off that bean burrito!
Posted by: Devilcat on November 7, 2004 01:39 AMI guess he needed the food to help force his views down their throats... ha ha.
On a serious side, I think that was a bad call on his part. Shouldn't management know better?
Posted by: Lee Ann on November 10, 2004 07:43 PM