The Meltdown in Midtown II

The thud of electronic devices meeting each other, the wall and the floor with greater force than necessary drew much attention. The office, after all, has a largely open floor plan, and sound travels.

I had announced my arrival with a spontaneous expression of intense dissatisfaction with an arbitrary intrusion into my life. My God, they knew I already worked full-time elsewhere, had family responsibilities and was in the process of buying a home -- in another state! At no time during our relationship with them had I ever worked from their office during a peak season, so why this time, particularly under those circumstances? Why should I have to squeeze my life into a few hours a day before rushing to midtown to sit in that toxic office until long after everyone had gone?

None of it made any sense, no one could give me a viable explanation and after the nonsensical and insulting phone call I got the day before, if I let it all go on, I would be as big a fool as they were to think that it could.

Upon realizing the impact my entrance had had on those present, I leaned over the desk and bowed my head. After several deep breaths, I had regained enough of my composure to follow someone's suggestion that I spend some time alone in the conference room.

It didn't help. Five minutes after the initial wave of rage came another. I walked out of the conference room with the intention that I would do any work that had to be done then and there, but I knew that, for purposes of work, I was done going to that office.

The twin ulcers were waiting for me as I made my way back to the desk where this all started. They wanted to talk. I grumbled that I didn't want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to get some work done and go home. The younger one pooh-poohed that notion. When he came at me with that pathetic office cliché "this is unacceptable", I knew it was all over. If that little snot-nosed hick thought he was gonna call me on that cheap-ass carpet, he musta been on meth. I whispered "I can't do this", then, empty-handed, headed toward the exit.