The Saga of the Office, Part 2
(continued from yesterday, below)

After that, I wound up working with C. C was a thin old man of about 70. He never stopped talking, but would drone on endlessly with these stories of his, all of which were about how someone had cheated him, or how someone had tried to cheat him, but had been caught by C. C had a serious anger problem. I once got inspired, grabbed a scratch sheet of paper, and noted everything he was angry about in a single half-hour of time (remember, I worked with him for 12-hour shifts).

Things C is Angry About:
Social Security tax
his spoiled granddaughter
his wife making his favorite horse a gelding (several years ago)
kids in the parking lot
X ratting on B
a Marine sergeant back in the Korean War
burned out light bulbs in the parking lot
the antiquated fire-alarm system
a woman that ran a red light and hit his car
air conditioning repairmen that overcharge

Eventually, C got in a shouting match with a guy over a ticket C had put on his car. X reported C.

C was balding, so he liked to wear A Major National Security Firm cap to cover it up. He had been told that K, general manager of the building (not the general manager of A Major National Security Firm; not related to A Major National Security Firm in any way), didn't like it, so not to wear it inside. Well, one day he was sitting at the front lobby desk (inside), wearing his cap and reading a newspaper when K comes up. K has rich businessmen with him who had arrived in limos. C is sitting there reading, and doesn't even glance up. He never notices K or the businessmen. K calls G and has him fired.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I worked with D. D is a North African Muslim from Tunisia who speaks four languages and is in school here in America for HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning repairman). D also has an anger problem, but he's professional enough to keep it under control, except when he's complaining to me. Well, D thinks the supervisors on the site are out to get him. He keeps complaining about all the crap he puts up with from them. D thinks that one of the supervisors discovered that D makes more money than he does, and is jealous because of it. D finally has enough and gives his two weeks' notice to G. G talks him into staying, because D is intelligent and competent, two qualities we desperately need at this post. D says okay, but isn't happy. That Tuesday, he complains some more. I say, "I'll see you when I relieve you Friday night," and he says, "I may not be here Friday." Friday night I come in and discover that Wednesday D went to K and complained about all the crap he had to put up with. This is a no-no, since K employs A Major National Security Firm to provide security at his site. D is fired for "insubordination."

When C got fired, E came on board. She was an African-American grandmother in her late 40s. We worked together on the weekends, and we got along great. She's lots of fun and laughs a lot. Well, she had been employed by A Major National Security Firm at a different site when she slipped and fell, hitting her head on the floor and knocking her out. She was hospitalized and had some brain injury that gives her migraines and impairs her memory even now, 6 months later. She sued the people (who were definitely negligent; they had been warned several times about the slippery spot and had done nothing about it), and so when she came back to work after 6 months disability leave, she started at a different post -- ours. E felt like G mislead her -- she hadn't been told she would be working 12-hour shifts overnight. The poor dear got nausea and dizzyness about 4 am every morning. Then there was an alarm about a hydrogen spill at one of the tenent spaces inside (which is a story in itself), and she grew upset -- she hadn't been told that she would be working a site with dangerous chemicals. She requested a transfer to a different post, and her name was removed from the schedule this weekend, so I assume she got the transfer. I missed her when she left.