My Former Co-Worker

So I used to work with this gal named Loma. I say Gal because she surely wasn't a girl, yet she had somehow retained enough of the boisterous energy so often found in that race that I would feel uncomfortable calling her a lady. Loma was hot blooded, not in the typical quick-to-temper manner, but in as that she was always hot. She had to have a fan pointed at her at all times, and she would complain profusely and with as little tact as possible and in the most passive-aggressive way possible. This consisted of commenting on how hot she was constantly, and asking if the temperature on the thermostat was set at the right level. This inevitably involved her turning down the thermostat to increase the cold air blowing on her from every direction possible. And on it would go until someone noticed that the office was freezing. At this point, one of her co-workers would come out and complain first about the air-condition and then about Loma because she was always turning the AC on too high. Our boss was always concerned because she wanted to save money, and the girl that complained was the girl who was most likely the most deceptive and egotistical in the office. She wanted a promotion every three months, was looking for something to brag about, something to tell people was important enough about her so that she could feel better about herself, something to convince her small mind that she was better than you when deep down what she really believed was that she wasn't better than anyone; or at least she wasn't worth a damn until mommy or daddy told her that she was. I of course never noticed all these things at the time, because I was far too ignorant to notice these things day in and day out.

Now day I notice these things, not day in and day out, but moments like these when you think about a person and see past all appearances to the things that really motivates them. I see this, and I ask myself, how can one not be a pessimist? Dear reader, did you like the people that I described above? Well let me tell you something, the first gal was one of the most caring mothers on earth, she would watch her grandson at any time, would brag about her son constantly, and would do anything for her daughter-in-law that she would ask for. The girl was one of the friendliest, charming and charismatic girl you had ever seen, and she was at the time dating my brother. You could not have asked for better people to surround yourselves with.

Witch brings me to the boss. A woman it is still hard for me to find faults in. She owned apartment buildings, threw parties whom she welcomed people from all over the place too, and over-indulged all her employees. I can't tell you how many free lunches (fresh sushi nonetheless), contacts and bonuses I received from this woman. Did I mention I was paid for the lunches? Did I mention she bought me a plane ticket to Oklahoma, and gave me a week to go to Oklahoma and be with my girlfriend? This woman cared so much for the people around her that they would do almost anything she asked them to do.

Yes, these are real people. The complexity of character is not so much shocking as unbelievable. The effort it takes to see these things all at once is alarming; not one of the characteristics would naturally point to all the others. This is the reality of complexities of character. Not every unique character trait points to every other character trait in that person; one may point to one, which may point to another, and another, and another on down the line until you can go from saint to sinner in a metaphysical game of 6 Degrees of Separation. This is how Loma could be the selfish worker and the doting mother in the same person. This is how the other girl (whose name completely escapes me) can go from loving and charming girlfriend to conniving courtier in the same person.

We are not one dimensional, two dimensional or three dimensional. We are the living embodiment of infinite dimensionality... of character.

The boss owned apartment buildings that she rented at a comically high rate to those who were looking for the status symbols to get that promotion they were hunting for in their jobs. She threw parties for her elite circle-peopled by those as rich as her-and invited her lower income friends to some of them so that she could remind the rich people that she still cared about people less fortunate than her, over-indulged her employees so that they would do whatever she wanted for her, gave away free lunches and vacations so that she could keep her businesses in the red (and usable as a write off from the money she made renting apartments). She also gave me a week of vacation so that she could test out other writers without committing to that fact that she was looking for a new writer. It was genius; look for a new writer while keeping the college student on staff in order to have enough time to decide if it was worth keeping on staff for the measly paycheck I earned every week. I was also paid under the table; I don't want to go into how many benefits this was for her.

After I got back she told me she had to hire an outside writer to do some work while I was away. I told her she could have called me and I would have done it while on vacae, but she was sweeter than honey and she didn't want to bother me. The next time it was because we were all over-booked and she didn't want to give me any extra work. I understood-and it was another way she could see how far down she could turn the thermostat.

One day I want from writing press releases to doing graphical work and calling radio stations. I didn't feel the cold air. I had just gotten out of high school, and I had no idea how the world worked. I also didn't want to spend so much time seeing how the world worked. Hindsight is 20/20. I thought I learned a lot while I worked there, I realize I learned a lot more after I left.

And me? Well I was personally happy to take the vacation-I was going to get laid a lot. I also didn't mind working less-I was able to avoid traffic by coming in later. I didn't really care about the company, the people in it were cool, and I liked the cash I was getting paid. I was also happy I had my own office so I could play stupid video games when I knew I could get away with it. I didn't care about that office-it had nothing to do with me at the time.

Of course, it did. And for all the time it took me to figure this out, I wonder how long it will take me to figure out the lessons I am learning right now. Experience is invaluable.

Goodnight.