Am I a Jerk?

Originally published in my intranet site.

Am I old ? Of course not !!

Am I depressed ? No !!

Do I take pleasure in others’ sorrow ? Nooooooo !!

Am I friendly ?? I think so !!

Am I a complete jerk ?? I don’t think so !

Well, these are some questions that I have been asking myself everyday. I am not against laughter. In fact, I subscribe to the theory that laughter is the best medicine !! It is the decibel level that I have an issue with, especially in confined spaces !

Here I am, breaking my head, tearing out the little remaining hair, caught in a never-ending conference call, with my ear, threatening to dislodge itself from its base, and do I get to finish the call in peace and find solutions to the never ending problems ??

No !! Why? Because, some others in the room have found something to laugh about !! One voice, in particular grates on my nerves. A high-pitched, shrill and nasal laughter, that comes out in bursts! How the laughing group always knows, when I am most vulnerable, escapes me !

Now here I am, idle, having lot of free time at my disposal, in a state of mind, where I am ready to smile benevolently at anything and everything in a pleasant state of dreaminess. And do they laugh now ? No they don’t. I can bet that even if you tell them the world’s best joke, they will simply glare at you like you were a fool and look away.

But the minute I get down to business and start working on something, they are reborn !! They find everything around them worthy of laughter !! Tell them your name and they will laugh !!

As I am typing this out, the whole setup brings about a sense of Déjà vu ! This is so familiar ! When did it happen? Has it really happened in the past?

Now I remember, yes it did happen !! In my first job, we were a bunch of graduates fresh out of college, and we would find everything funny. We would stand in groups in the workplace and our laughter would disturb everything around us! Some managers who were in the same room, would yell at us, to keep it down ! And we would think - ‘To hell with that Old Jerk !!’

Now I know ! Perhaps I am old and I am a jerk !! :((