This is why I hate my job – part deux

On my last entry (about women who feel the need to pee standing up), Christina insisted that I tell a more gross story that happened at work. It involved a strange, socially awkward girl, a case of pubic lice, and a whole bunch of staff who like to gossip.

I learned by my second day working at the Empire State Building that everyone else who worked there, custodial and security alike, all liked to gossip. Even the girls who worked up at the vending booth on my floor had mouths on them. There’s only a select few people you can trust to maybe keep a secret for you, and that’s only if you’re on their good side. I have my inner gossip girl as well, but being an Aquarius, I like the kind of gossip that shocks people or grosses them out.

Tuesday morning, I came in to work and went straight to my bathroom, to see what supplies I needed to refill and whatnot. Went to the supply closet, stocked up, and came back. When I returned, someone was in one of the stalls. That someone, I soon found out, was Marie, a girl who worked for the vending stand.

“Arwen…?” She called out from the stall.

“Yeah?” I responded.

“Can I tell you something kind of personal that may be gross?” I thought, how gross could it be? I’ve heard my fair share of gross-out stories, plus I have my own arsenal of stories with a high ick factor.

“Go ahead,” I replied, eager to hear her “gross” personal business. She went on to tell me that she thought that she had a case of bedbugs, that her husband’s apartment had had an infestation but they never got rid of their mattress, and that she had just picked one out of her underwear.

On the inside, I went, “OMGWTFBBQEW!!!!!!” but I quickly collected my composure, and uttered a single, calm and cool “ew.” She continued to talk about it more, and I left the bathroom. While Marie was still in there, mulling over the bedbugs in her snatch and calling her gynecologist, I rushed to tell Angie, another girl who works for the vending stand and with whom I’m pretty buddy-buddy. I relayed to Angie everything that Marie had confided in me. She agreed it was gross, and then urged me to tell Tasha, another chummy vending stand employee. So I did.

Not ten minutes after Marie came out of the bathroom, Angie came up to me and confided in me that Marie had told her. Apparently, Marie also told a couple other people, and within an hour, all 25+ employees of that floor knew about it. And everyone was thoroughly grossed the fuck out. There was also much speculation on whether or not it was actually bedbugs, because someone mentioned that bedbugs don’t attach themselves to you. This led us all to believe it was lice, which, from what most of us have learned in elementary school, is highly contagious.

Now, the other girls have the luxury, if they so wish, to avoid that bathroom like the plague. I, on the other hand, am exposed to that bathroom whether I like it or not, because I am assigned to clean that bathroom. Throughout the course of the morning, I became more and more reluctant to clean the bathroom. During lunch, I was regaling the story to a couple of my custodial associates who work on the office floors. They suggested I tell a supervisor, because she shouldn’t be at work if she’s carrying something like that.

So I did. After lunch, I reported to my supervisor, told him the story, and added that I don’t feel comfortable working under those circumstances because I don’t want to catch whatever she has. My supervisor felt for me, and called her supervisor, who sent her home.

She actually came back the next day, and by then, the entire custodial and security staff knew. She first tried pointing the blame at Angie for “spreading the rumors,” and then tried confronting me about it. I flat out told her it was gross, she shouldn’t have come to work with it, and she DEFINITELY shouldn’t have told anybody if she didn’t want everybody knowing. I concluded that this was a professional environment, and the workplace has no room for things like that.

April 28th, 2008 | Drama, Work | Leave a response