Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I fixed the copier; gimme seventy-five bucks, now with updates



My boss, the racist*, asked me to call the copier repair place earlier today.  He said that another employee had complained that the copier wasn't working correctly.

I went to the employee and asked him what, exactly, was wrong with the copier.  He said that the margins were out of whack; the copies were printing off-center. 

I went back to the copier, and checked the paper tray for the size he was trying to copy.  Someone had loosened up the guides to load the paper and hadn't re-tightened the guides.  The paper had shifted.  I re-tightened the guides, and ran a couple of test copies.  Voila!  Problem solved.

So I think I should get the money that the company would have paid to the copier repairman.  I mean, it's only fair, right?  Right.  Laughing, I told my boss that he owed my seventy-five bucks, which is what it would have cost to have the copier repair place send a dude out.

UPDATED TO ADD:  A couple of hours after I wrote this, but before I posted it, my boss dropped a fifty on my desk.  I laughed, saying "oh, naw, it's all part of my job description."  My Job Description:  My own job, plus every other got-dam thing that nobody else in the office wants to deal with.  Amen.

ANYhow, I declined the fifty, and then my boss said, "You lost some time a few weeks ago.  I said something stupid, and you left work early because of what I said, and it cost you some money."  (I'm paid hourly, not salary,  so yeah, if my butt's not in my seat, I'm not making money.)  He continued, "I'm sorry for what I said, and I appreciate what you do, and I can't take back what I said, but just keep the money.  I owe you."

I kept the fifty.  F*ck yeah. I think I'll donate it to the ACLU in my boss's name.   But it doesn't change how he thinks,  or what he said.   And then, tonight, I was scrolling through Facebook and one of my own sisters had "shared" some right-wing rant about how "life as we know it is in danger because Obama blah blah blah", and sometimes I feel like I don't even know anybody anymore. So, *I* shared a Postsecret post, "They tried to bury us.  They didn't know we were seeds." - Mexican Proverb.

I dunno.  The older I get, the more liberal I get, and the more conservative the people around me get. Is it like this for everybody?








* I think this is how I'll refer to him from now on.  "My boss, the racist".  To prevent me from forgetting what a terrible person he is when he thinks nobody's listening..

7 comments:

James P. said...

When I read this, I get the impression that you have made an impact on your boss' thinking and that he has made some PROGRESS in that area....not the political views, but the moral ones. It took guts for him to say what he did with the fifty-dollar donation. I'm also pretty sure that you have him scared half to death of you. (So, will the dogs still be on the company Xmas cards this year??? I vote for letting him have his dogs.....He's tried to do better.)

Anonymous said...

Yes...lots of people seem to be getting more and more Scrooge like as I get older. The prevailing theme seems to be, "I got mine, you figure out how to get yours." There's little consideration as the helping hands we all had along the way and that we, as a society, need to play it forward.

I am the product of good public schools and a small higher education debt because society supported those efforts then. I got lucky with health care coverage at times when I needed it. I benefit from governmental oversight of things like weights and measures, food and safety inspections, the national highway system to name a few things people don't recognize regularly.
It bothers me that President Reagan started the idea that government is the enemy instead of the underpinnings for a powerful society.
Kris

Anonymous said...

...powerful and fair society. Fairness, as your boss demonstrated usually has to be forced upon us.
K

rockygrace said...

I feel like he was trying to buy me off. I've worked for this guy since the Stone Age, and we always got on well, with a good rapport, and now I can't even look him in the eye, he's so repellent to me. I knew he was morally sketchy, but this was the last straw. I just ... he called a black man a nigger. It's just so awful.

I'm sure that he just wants things to go back to how they were, like, "Here, kid, here's fifty bucks, NOW will you like me again?" Sorry, dude, the answer is no. What's been said can't be unsaid. True colors and all that.

And yeah, Kris, it's the whole "I got mine" mentality. And here's the thing: Because he's old, he's on Medicare. He pays seventy bucks a month for excellent medical coverage, thanks to the government, and yet he sees no irony whatsoever in bitching and moaning and crying about how the government done him wrong. He screws over the IRS every chance he gets - even did time in an ankle bracelet once. I donate more to charity in a single year than this guy has done his entire life. And still he has the f*cking nerve ...

... Okay. Done venting now. Ha.

Domestic Kate said...

Well. Hush money, is it? I'm glad you took it. At least it had some impact on him.

I've noticed that as people get older, they become more them. It's like they were always like that before but with age comes confidence and the I don't give a fuck attitude.

James P. said...

I think my Oklahoma-bred naivete has been showing.....I'll try to rein it in.

P.S. Where can we get these attractive ankle bracelets of which you speak?

rockygrace said...

Aw, Ginny, you're sweet.

And all you have to do to get an ankle bracelet of your very own is get caught cheating on your business taxes ... Or, you know, you can pick your own felony. :)