Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Eskimo

Eskimo--so quick to perceive any slight, however innocent, so quick to pick up on gossip--is otherwise often wholly clueless. Tonight she was in rare form, standing at the service desk and holding forth on a variety of topics: politics, art, the military, pop culture, music--after two hours of this many patrons were shushing her (she had her back to the room, leaning against the desk) and saying "stop talking please!" And yet, Eskimo kept on chattering, God Bless Her. She started going off on a riff about the public schools--there were three young women behind her making faces full of murderous intent--when finally the student assistant said "Eskimo, I hate to be rude, but I got a complaint from several patrons when I went to the restroom. They think you're being way too loud." Eskimo turned, scowled at the women behind her, and said rudely "Well they could've just said something to me--I'm standing right here!" In response, there were gasps of disbelief and nervous titters.

I'd been praying for a complaint myself for at least 45 minutes--I know better than to try and shut her up, and I'm not willing to risk pissing off The Beast until tomorrow, when my desk moves out of the back office once and for all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every story I hear about her is so insane! I don't know how you guys stand it.

em

Geoff said...

We can't. I've just moved my "office" to the noisy, oppressive HVAC room in order to escape it.