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anna

I wanna be someone who believes, who believes

by anna at 07:16 PM on January 11, 2006

A coworker, who's a nurse, has a little problem. Turns out there's a pipe that runs from her water meter to her townhouse, where she lives alone with a menagerie of pets. It has a hole in it. The water authority says it is spewing a gallon a minute into the sewer system. That is 1,440 gallons a day! She's understandably perturbed by this turn of events. Today she told me she's considering a turn to prostitution to pay for the calamity. Not to mention her water bill. She figures she can dress up in her nurse outfit and have plenty of paying customers.

So she's had to leave work several times to meet with water company people, plumbers and backhoe operators. When she got back her supervisor had this to say: "How are you planning on making up the time you've missed?" How's that for empathy for someone who really is in a tough spot? Aside from the aforementioned plan, she has no way to pay for this nightmare.

FEMA had more sympathy for the deluged citizens of New Orleans' 9th Ward. George W Bush doesn't care about black people.

This supervisor is one of that rare breed in today's corporate world, the Truly Committed. Or more accurately, Should Be Committed. They really believe in the company and its stated "goals" and "visions." They pen endless emails delving into the nuances and vagaries of corporate minutia. The rest of us can't delete their pointless drivel fast enough. By the time you delete it, though, another one appears.

Most of them are old, of the generation before mine. They came up in a time where you got a job and actually stayed there your entire career. The company maintained a paternalistic relationship with its lifelong employees. I got out of college at the tail end of that era. I worked for a company that employees affectionately called "Mother AETNA." I swear.

Of course it's misplaced loyalty. Just as employees today are essentially mercenaries poised to jump ship at the first hint of a better offer, companies in general couldn't care less about individual employees or their welfare. It is an exchange of time and effort for money and that is all. No more Christmas bonus, no more Christmas party where spouses were invited and you could drink, no nothing.

I kind of miss those times. I miss having something to believe in. Back in the day one of the few things I really believed in, felt committed to, was music. But nowadays I couldn't imagine anyone mustering much passion for Blink 182, the goddamn Dave Matthews Band or Pink. It's all just a big plastic sheet of materialistic bullshit so far as I can tell. Though I Guess This Is Growing Up is a kickass song. I have it in my iPod.

Maybe I'll join Scientology or Kabala or something.

comments (13)

This nurse was created for point pushing purposes, right? There isn't actually a woman working as a nurse seriously contemplating prostitution to pay for a busted water main, is there? With a boss who'd like her working overtime to make up for the hours she'd taken off to attend plumbers. No way! If you're eight years old and you're reading this... don't believe it kid! The hooker nurse isn't real! He's having you on! S'all a trick! The wicked boss and the innocent Cinderalla nursey: "She just wants to be loyal and do her job, but the wicked bosses flying monkeys busted her pipes, if only a plumber on a white Charger pickup could rescue her. If only the slightly smelly sensible looking flat nurse shoe fit her foot!" It ain't true!

I'll bet she made more money from the visiting plumbers than she ever could pulling a shift at the hospital. That pipe has been paid for, and then some... client list as long as your arm, filled with contractors to maintain all manner of pipes. Mee-meep. And they all lived happily ever after.

by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at January 12, 2006 8:34 PM


No she really said that to me. But I made up the part about the nurse outfit. Figured if the shoe fits...

by anna at January 13, 2006 7:49 AM


Broken Pipe?
Whining about the Cold Corporatocracy?

...old hat...

...Anna, next time you are in NYC, call me: 917-568-8419

by lockhhed at January 13, 2006 12:06 PM


As a matter of fact:

CALL me RIGHT NOW... on my cell or something... 917-568-8419

Why not? it's Friday... You think it's socially innappropriate or awkward to randomly someone in the BadSam family... c'mon... you got a straightjacket and a stick up your ass?

call me...

by LOCKHEED at January 13, 2006 12:08 PM


What would I have to dial first to get that number to work? lol

by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at January 13, 2006 7:28 PM


I think from the UK it's: 001- then 917-568-8419...

OR, just comment on my blog.... www.tradinganddrugs.blogspot.com

some fun posts the last three... but not many comments... :(

by LOCKHEED at January 13, 2006 10:59 PM


I love all this ya stuff keep it up/-and i will like being a sexfilm actor please could you help me out,this is my mail free4cool2far@yahoo.com

by Wale at January 14, 2006 5:48 PM


My old highschool friend is bigtime porn director...
He won a big award at the Porn Awards in Las Vegas about a week ago...

Maybe he could use you.

by lockheed at January 15, 2006 1:49 AM


I dunno. I am just a hermit at heart. I like the old Kafka standby: You do not need to leave your room.... be rather stiff and ordinary... the world will reveal itself to you.

by anna at January 15, 2006 8:24 AM


Plus I lack long distance service. Wife has a cell but I don't know how to use it.

by anna at January 15, 2006 8:25 AM


Employers shouldn't ask their employees to believe in them. Why should employees do so, unless the employer has earned the right? They always ask anyways. When I was fresh and gullible and just out of school, this bothered me. But like Conan O'Brien says, I felt horror, and then it faded into acceptance.

by jean at January 15, 2006 6:17 PM


Music today does suck. Thanks to my officemate at my new job, I have been exposed to all kinds of 70s rock I've missed due to being born too late.

by MrBlank at January 15, 2006 8:36 PM


Funny you'd mention 70s rock. I've been tuning in to a classic rock station and I must say I am embarassed for my entire generation. "You can't catch me cuz the rabbit done died...."

by anna at January 16, 2006 7:41 AM