A couple of weeks ago, we had major fumes in our office. That wasn’t fun. Starting last week, and continuing this week, we’ve had major construction going on upstairs. It’s getting louder all the time. Yesterday, they started dropping things – hammers, bodies, large canisters that I can only assume contain highly flammable or explosive liquids; that sort of thing – and today, they were hammering directly over me… for hours. I thought they might fall through the ceiling and on to me! At least the hammering was a consistent drone. It all but drowned-out the extremely loud Filipino gal who sits in the office near us.
Ever since she moved into the office, about a month now, I’ve been listening to really loud music to drown out her voice. It doesn’t work. At least she comes in late, so typically, I have 2-3 hours of peace. Yesterday, she came to the office early – the two of us were alone for hours – and I wanted to strangle her much of that time. So much noise, so inconsiderate! When she wasn’t on the phone (and always speakerphone), she was listening to “squeaky”-sounding Filipino music with absolutely no bass, and she was singing to it… off key! This was some special kind of torture for me, being a musician and all. At least she doesn’t play bagpipes. She has a real “downer” personality as well – angry, selfish, opinionated – so it makes it hard to listen to her rants. She yells at the customers she calls, talks down to them as though they are idiots, and then complains about them after she hangs up to the only somewhat loud secretary guy who is just outside her office (and just over the cubicle from me). She is a seriously sad and lonely gal. If she was working for me, I would have fired her long ago – no matter how good she is, you can’t have a “cancer” like her in the office because it begins to affect everybody. She needs Jesus, but has rejected Him. She now makes all her decisions by reading the daily horoscope – seriously!
I just need to bite my tongue, pray for her, and be as nice to her as possible. She is an “unlovable” person who needs love. I want her to know Jesus (again?) before somebody kills her.
Tomorrow, I shall be absolutely giddy to be working at home in absolute peace; no hammers, no phones, no loud voices.