The other day as I was leaving a specialty store (as opposed to “general merchandise”) a fellow whose wife I used to work with waved hello. What we have in common is her so I asked and learned in brief that she’s been award more responsibilities at her job and is pretty happy. Wrapping those vague but enthusiastic details were descriptions of her co-workers, my former colleagues.<\/p>\n
It was an earful.<\/p>\n
“A” is difficult, you know that, “A” is always right and won’t hear another side, and (spouse) just quietly slips past and does what she finds works for her. Oh, “B” is a pushover, you know that, don’t you. Everybody gets by with murder with “B.” Didn’t you find “B” a doormat, Ben?<\/p>\n
Well, no, but maybe I wasn’t that observant. Yes, I just let people talk. It’s not tacit agreement, but saying anything up or down can tend to encourage them. I just wanted this to play out, soon. This man knows what he hears, but what he chooses to talk about to me, whom he hasn’t seen in well over a year probably, is a study. All I wanted to hear about was my former co-worker, whom I should e-mail more often.<\/p>\n
“C,” though, Ben, takes the cake. She’s lazy and tricky. “C” takes long lunch hours, fills out her time sheet any way she feels like because “B” isn’t paying attention. Why, “C” has called in with the same dental appointment three times this month. That’s just like an Arky. Ben, you know Arkies, and aren’t they always this shiftless?<\/p>\n
I’m an Arky, I tell him immediately, not to goad him but just from something automatic. I’m like fourth-generation.<\/p>\n
But you’re not from around here.<\/p>\n
Yes, I am, born and raised an hour away in Fort Smith.<\/p>\n
The man — he and his wife are college-educated and from a major metro area in another part of the country — turns to go into the store just like that, says it was nice to see me. Was it something I said? I call after to say I hear their child got a good job, he says they’re real proud, and that’s all he says. No time to brag, just time to be petty.<\/p>\n
There are other terms for what he ended up saying. I’m just surprised at what came out of his mouth in the parking lot that morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The other day as I was leaving a specialty store (as opposed to “general merchandise”) a fellow whose wife I used to work with waved hello. What we have in common is her so I asked and learned in brief that she’s been award more responsibilities at her job and is pretty happy. Wrapping those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brick-bats-reportage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3230,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/11\/bentonville-picture-show\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":0},"title":"Bentonville Picture Show","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- What a lovely day for a dedication. This is free-range journalist Noah Vale, preparing a live blog for my client Crystal Britches. We are here for the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, although Ms. Britches prefers calling it the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chronicles of Crystal Britches"","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cool Wrist Bands at Crystal Bridges dedication 11-11-11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Wrist-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6217,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2018\/11\/resilient-hombre\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":1},"title":"Resilient Hombre","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Nine percent. He shouldn't even be here, sniffing my hand and looking around, at 9 percent. He's clinically dead.\" Our vet knows that my wife and I want her to be candid. She is. At this point in the clinic visit, we're learning that the lymphoma has progressed to where\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mani, summer 2009","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mani-Pollock-summer-09-for-web-300x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/08\/duma-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":2},"title":"Duma Me","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Book report: Duma Key by Stephen King I can be a snob sometimes: I enjoyed most movies based on Stephen King novels but read nothing of his until seeing a short story or two early this decade in The New Yorker. The plan's not to catch up on everything he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mr. Boo Klist"","block_context":{"text":"Mr. Boo Klist","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/mr-boo-klist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7040,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2021\/04\/jan\/","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":3},"title":"Obituary for Jan Soderstrom","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Jan in her 20s, probably late 1970s, and Jan having lunch out with her sons Kirk and Kris on March 20, 2021, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Jan Carol Altman Soderstrom, of Winston-Salem, N.C., died April 7, 2021, at the age of 71, of cancer. 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