11:46 a.m. - 2006-07-26
maybe she's deaf
So there's this attorney who works down the hall from me. Some of my co-workers have said she's kind of rude/brisk...actually, pretty much everyone has said that...I myself have never spoken to her, but if we do pass in the hallway, she makes eye-contact but does not smile or say hi or whatever. Once I said hi and she nodded, barely. A co-worker told me she nearly ran them over once and didn't apologize.
She has her own large, one-room office and her door is always open. Most of the offices in the building are offices for larger organizations and have a main door and then inside is a front desk area and various conference rooms/offices, etc. But hers is just a large, square room on the corner and her door is always open. I walk by to go to the stairs, the elevators and the restroom. And every single time I go by, I glance at her and she looks kind of proper and very very sour. Like she has just been delivered a bit of annoying, unwelcome news such as "Sorry but your paycheck got lost in the mail." or "Your son's aging hamster needs expensive surgery or you will have to put it to sleep." or "You'll have to sit in the middle seat on your flight to Boston." Sour. And also sort of proper. She holds her pen just so. And she is usually touching her necklace, which is a simple string of pearls, with one or two fingers as she writes. It looks like she is writing something important but not urgent. She doesn't hurry. She is thoughtful and deliberate. Strategic. She is never on the phone. NEVER. I don't think she speaks.
Here is where it gets interesting:
When I walk by her open door, most of the time, like 4 out of 5 days per week, she has (at a moderate to slightly loud volume) really peppy, fun 80's pop music playing on her fancy stereo.
Madonna
George Michael
Michael Jackson
Annie Lenox
Belinda Carlisle
INXS
Culture Club
Lots of Madonna. Lots.
It's just so out of place. It's like when you have the TV on, but it's muted, and there is music coming from the stero and it's like a commercial for Mountain Dew or an annoying local car dealership, but Nick Drake is softly wafting out of your speakers.
I have nicknamed her "The Pop Princess." I have not told anyone this because I don't think anyone in my office would fully appreciate this. They're all too busy taking medication to cope with their work responsibilities. But I enjoy this aspect of my work experience very much. I love taking a walk to the bathroom and coming back, shimmying subtly down the hallway to "Live-ing-in-a-mat-er-ial-world...Materi-a-al!" .
I have these fantasies of kind of slinking into her office, pausing in the door jamb to do a little dance move to whatever's playing...she first looks up at me and looks horrified/furious but then she jumps up out of her chair, does a fan kick as she slides across the desk and we immediately break into a highly choreographed number while accountants, graphic designers and Senator Rick Santorum (all office tennants) stop and stare in disbelief at our inspiring energy and grace. They can't help it...everyone starts dancing. The computer-dorks rocking out in the elevator, the secretaries sliding down the grand stair banisters, the waitresses from the restaurant dangling their legs over the rails of the balconies...the senator loosening his tie and tossing his briefcase to an aide so he can rush over to dance with me and the Pop Princess...
