THE Lowly Peon

et tu, judy? 
24 September 2009, 12:59pm

today has been a weird day. lots of little things just feel not quite right. little bad things have happened. woke up with a headache. ran out of granola yesterday but failed to realize until i was hungry this morning with no other food. my bathroom smells like someone's kitchen drain with a broken disposal.

daisy, who has been in three car-related accidents today, believes it is bad karma coming back our way.

most of the day was okay. i kept a positive outlook, and a delicious lunch (before car-accident #3) kept my spirits pretty high.

background story: almost everyone at our china office, of about 250+ people, spends their time like george costanza, spending more time and energy avoiding work than actually working. likewise, as a foreigner representative of corporate, people are supposed to help me, but rarely do. they make me jump through so many hoops that i give up and do it myself.

but, there have always been a small handful of people who always have helped me when i ask. aside from the obvious daisy and one or two other friends, the secretary, a young cute girl from a small country town, has always been very helpful. i always thought we had a pretty good relationship, joking and such when we talk, and i always tried really hard to make her life easier, because i know how busy she is.

i've been traveling a lot lately, and with two or three others from this office. the other american has been asking the secretary to help her with airline tickets, etc. so i did too. and i just got a response from her. my reaction:

et tu, judy?

her email said simply that she had the plane tickets, here are the times, etc. then, in a carefully written essay (note that this was sent around 8pm), she told me i could get the tickets myself next time.

so now judy, the cute secretary, has joined the ranks of people at our chinese office who won't help me, even though, as bray corporate, they probably should. and now, in my busy bottom* schedule (i think most of you know i've been pretty busy lately), i need to deal with getting even more plane tickets.

my heart is broken.