Something happened at work the other day that reminded me of another incident with the obnoxious manager that I've been telling about. As I say, I worked with him for three months and it was something every day. One morning as I was walking to work and approaching the back door I looked up and saw my shoes hanging over the phone lines. I came in and the morning cook who was one of my few friends in the restaurant said "I saw your shoes Gerald. Sorry I didn't have time to get them down." I said "No problem!" I got the ladder out, managed to climb up and get my shoes down. When the boss came in I told him what had happened and that I'd appreciate it if it never happened again. When the night people came in the boss lit into them, and told them that my personal property was never to be touched again, and anybody that messed with it would be fired, no questions. They were to leave other peoples' stuff alone.
"It was just a joke!" the night cook complained. "Why can't he take a joke? Why can't anybody have fun with him?" "You don't touch other peoples' belongings!" the boss screamed. "It's forbidden! Understand that!"
Everybody muttered "Yeah, yeah!"
The next morning I came into work and it was raining. I looked up and there were my shoes over the phone line! I got them down but they were too wet to wear. When the boss came in I told him again and borrowed his car to go home and get dry ones. That afternoon when the night people came in the boss was waiting. "Don't bother to take off your coats," the boss snapped. "You're all done! Everybody else will work double shifts until we can replace you, but you ignored what I said."
"We were just having fun!" the night cook screamed. "Why is he so sensitive? Why can't he be a man?"
The dishwasher spoke up. "It was my fault," he put in, "they didn't realize I'd done it. I thought Gerald and I were friends. I don't understand. It was just a joke, it was just a prank. You can't fire us for that!"
"Well I'll let the others stay," the boss answered, "but you can't. You disobeyed me, you ignored me, you did what you wanted to do. I can't have someone like that working here."
"My mother's having a hard time," the dishwasher pleaded, "we won't be able to make it without my pay. Please! Nothing will happen again."
The boss looked to me and I nodded. "All right," he said, "you can stay. But one more problem and you're gone!"
He then took a key out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Here's a key to the office, Gerald. From now on you put your things in there and you can get them out in the morning. They'd better not be touched in there!"
"What?" the cook screamed. "You won't give me a key and you're giving him one?"
"I trust him," the boss answered. "I don't trust you."
When the manager came in he was enraged that I had a key. "He already has a locker," he roared, "that he keeps stuff in that everybody else needs! Why can't he put his stuff in that?"
The boss told him to shut up. There wasn't room in the locker. It was too full of the cleaning stuff.
The dishwasher tried to make friends. He invited me over to his home for supper. He said his mother wanted to meet me. I told him to get out of my face and stay out of my face. As long as he didn't bother me, I wouldn't bother him. But I wanted nothing to do with him. He wasn't the kind of person that I associated with. He got his kicks irritating people, and that would only cause problems.
Again the manger was totally irate and started screaming at me when he came in that I do not hurt the feelings of somebody's mother by rejecting her son's friendship. I told him where he could go and later the boss repeated it. Later the night cook came in drunk one morning and I had fun putting him out of the restaurant. The dishwasher left a little while after the manager got done. But as I say, working with this guy was a real pain because he surrounded himself with total morons.

THE END

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. ( Albert Einstein )