I hate That Girl.

First of all, may I just say that you guys and your comments on my post from yesterday are just amazing. You are simultaneously hysterical and sympathetic and I feel so much better for having read your reactions. I showed the comments to Torsten, and he was also extremely appreciative. After much discussion, we've come to the conclusion that his mother didn't mean her comment quite as meanly as it sounded. It doesn't seem to really have anything to do with me in particular; it's something she probably would have said no matter who he was marrying. It has to do with her own issues about needing to be in control and not trusting anyone else to make decisions or answer questions, ever.

But still, not the best ending to what was otherwise a very successful meeting. And yes, thank God for the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, and for her location on the other side of it. I suppose if you're going to have a difficult mother-in-law, you couldn't ask for more than for her not to speak your language and for her to live on a different continent. So, I'll take my blessings where I can find them.

Moving on, I spent four hours this morning in orientation for new hires at work. It was your traditional, too-long, somewhat repetitive but marginally useful training session where I learned a couple things about the company benefits and where to find things on the intranet. But for most of the time I was hard-pressed not to roll my eyes as two people dominated the meeting with their inane questions and insistence on telling their own personal stories at every possible opportunity. You know, they can't just say, "Can I log onto the media station near my office without reserving it first?" They have to tell a five-minute story about how there's a media station near their desk and they thought about using it and once they got as far as actually sitting down in the chair before they panicked and thought maybe they shouldn't, because this one time at the job they held five years ago they tried that and the scanner ended up being broken for three months, and haha, this whole thing reminds me of this one time, in band camp? AND THEN I KILLED THEM WITH MY ANGRY STARE OF DEATH.

I remember those people from college, that one girl who was always sitting front and center in the class with perfect posture and tons of notes and highlighting in her book, raising her hand even when other people were talking because what she had to say wasn't just important, it was downright enlightening, and by a month into the semester the professor would start twitching whenever that hand shot up in the air again, and the silent wait for somebody, anybody, please for the love of God anyone, anyone besides this girl, please raise your hand and answer my question, even if you answer in Pig Latin, that wait was excruciating. And then the worst part was that even if somebody else answered the question, even if they answered the question CORRECTLY, that girl would STILL keep her hand in the air because SHE wasn't going to just answer the question, she was also going to share a personal vignette that would enrich the lives of her classmates in unmeasurable ways.

My point here is, I was really fucking sick of people like that by the time I graduated, and now, to encounter more such people here in my office where I spend half of my waking hours... it's just not fair. Really, not fair. As in why, why, WHY DO YOU STILL THINK THAT WE CARE ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PRINT SETTINGS TO DOUBLE-SIDED?

Ahem. Sorry about the caps. I think what would make me feel better here is a little round of oneupmanship. So, please, tell me about the worst or most obnoxious classmate/colleague/neighbour/whoever that you've had to deal with, and then I'll be reminded of how much worse it all could be. So, start sharing.