Last week he annoyed the hell out of me from like Wednesday through Friday. Periodically stopping me in the middle of what I’m doing at work to make funny noises and act like he needs some attention by flashing lights at me. So I’d turn to him and watch and listen “yes Tim, uh-huh….. uh-huh…. ok well can we get back to….. no, NO, uh-huh… ok then back to work now”. I don’t want to be insensitive, maybe he was just having a bad week. I mean he’s normally great at his job, rarely complains and honestly I often don’t even notice he’s there. So I played it off till Monday.
Monday rolls around and guess what? First thing in the morning it’s the noises and lights again. I grit my teeth and look at the floor as if the floor will suddenly have the answer to my Tim situation written upon it. It doesn’t though; I look over at Tim happily blinking and chirping away. Giving one of those pained smiles I slowly turn my chair around and shuffle some papers. Something has to be done about him. One more day Tim, or I’ll take some action.
Given my writing “style” I don’t have to tell you that on Tuesday when I opened the door to the office I was greated not with a hello but a “buzz click whir, blink” from Tim. Look we all have problems. If I had the time I’d list all of mine over there in the sidebar. But as far as I can see my problems are not keeping Tim from making a living. So I make the call. Apparently management can see that Tim has become “an issue” and will be sending somebody over to “work on it”. They also want to see if any of my actions are inflaming the siituation. Me? You think I’m causing Tim to sabotage my job? It’s standard procedure they say. Ok, whatever. (I’ve got your standard procedure…)
When I came back from lunch there was someone dealing with Tim. I sheepishly slid out of the office and over to get some coffee. In an hour the man dealing with Tim yelped “we’re done down here”. He explained to me that Tim had been going through a rough time. There were a few personal problems that were inadvertently causing him to “act out” at work. I was assured that Tim would not be causing me any more trouble.
And for the rest of the day he didn’t. We exchanged pained looks once after his discussion with management and went on our way. It was even pleasant working together for the rest of the day. Except for the end of the day. Right as I was leaving I could have sworn that when I said goodnight, Tim said “BUZZ CLICK!”. I turned around quickly, but there he was working away. Maybe it was my imagination. I’m just glad Tim is back to normal.
You see Tim is my internet connection.
