Well, it’s about time I did something on this site. We don’t use it often enough. Lord knows we use all of the time we spend with each other for discussing the minutiae of politics, religion, science and other, really important stuff, like videogames and Doctor Who. So, in keeping with the prevailing spirit of me, I’m going to write a very non specific, vague and stream of consciousness style article and then attempt to pass it off as something worth reading. So, without any further ado; Take it away, myself…
So I now live and work in the wild and turbulent wastelands of Yorkshire, which is…different, to say the least. I will say I was certainly more used to having an intelligent conversation now and then, which is something that seems to be head and shoulders above what many of the people I’ve met here even seem capable of. Even a dysfunctional mess like me is given cause to wonder about how they continue to exist and function as humans. The place I work is a family-run business, with (obviously) several members of the same extended family in various jobs. There are two brothers, their mother and the mother’s partner. He’s sort of the brothers’ stepdad, but he and the mother are not married. There are a few additional staff members other than myself, but they don’t work as often.
They’re crazy, putting it bluntly. Barely a day goes by without an argument, some member of the family getting angry at another one for something they’ve done, or not done, or said or whatever. This makes the workplace a rather stressful environment for me, especially considering all the parties involved have virtually no redeeming features whatsoever. Of the four, one’s a criminal, one’s arrogant, moody and stupid, one’s a shrieking illiterate bunny-boiler and one’s a Daily Mail reading racist homophobe. Of the others, one’s a member of the BNP, one’s way too damn pushy when she’s drunk and the other is astonishingly actually a decent human being. Then there’s me, holding my ears and trying to block them all out by humming to myself.
I am becoming deadened to them now. A few days or weeks ago (I can’t remember, they all blur into one) I was at work while some kind of shouting match was occurring in the back of the establishment. The assembled customers (all 5 of them) looked around in confusion and then looked at me as if I wasn’t aware of it. My response was to turn up the stereo so I couldn’t hear the shouting any more. It was pretty much unwritten rule #1 to Not Get Involved. It’s also not after every job interview that you receive a series of advanced apologies from staff members for all the dreadful things they’ll be saying and doing to me and each other in the future. It’s not normal, and it’s just not right.
This is not how a workplace is supposed to be. I’ve had to state my case -several times- that I’m not there to document or comment upon the epic family saga, much less get involved. I’m just there to work, so they will pay me money so I can pay my rent and buy food and all the other stuff. That’s it. My interaction starts and ends with with paycheck. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been called upon to weigh in on some ‘vital’ issue or another, in a series of classic “damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t” moments. They just don’t seem to understand that I simply do not care. Do something to prove you’re not idiots, or just make it worth my while for putting up with it.
In summary then; I need a new job or soon there will be murders.
