Great, Now I Have To Avoid This Co-Worker For The Rest Of My Life

When I was an usher, by far the worst part of the job were asshole customers.  But I learned over the years working there that usually I would never see them again.  Even in a town like this that seems so small, it was rare to have a second run-in with a prick at a show or a concert.  Once I realized this, it actually made my bad days sort-of better.  I found that if I don't see a motherfucker again, I can let go of the angry feelings that I remember from the run-in with that motherfucker.

The problem really started with this fellow usher.  I may have spoken about her in the past, and I don't want to give that closeted bitch the time of day, so if you don't mind, I'm going to gloss over her misdeeds toward me.  But these misdeeds, whenever she was in a bad mood (or, since I believe she has some psychological issues, I'll say she was "glitching"), I had to add that to all the other bad times I had dealing with her.  Those experiences added up, and when I had my final straw, my "I'm done with you!" moment with her, that's when I went to my supervisor and told him I cannot deal with that woman anymore.  Because she wasn't going away.  She was coming back, again and again and again, and I was just a sitting duck, waiting for her to explode and melt down on me.  I could not let go of my angry feelings of her mistreatment towards me.  And therefore, after a year of hemming and hawing, I realized that I would rather be free from her than have this ushering job, a job that I loved for eight, nine years.

Since then I've been weary of making enemies of people at my usual workplace.  Unlike strangers who come and go, your co-workers are going to be there, day after day after day.  There's no way to avoid them, no way to be free of them (besides quitting, of course).  So while I am wary of people who might not be so, uh, professional, I also try and not do anything to make enemies out of people, either.  Because there's no way you can get out of that.

So that takes me to this morning.  I was surprised when I woke up to see one inch of snow; the forecast said a dusting to 2/10 of an inch.  That slowed traffic to a crawl, of course, and even though I did set my alarm early just in case, I still got blindsided by the underestimation of snow.  Therefore, once again, I was trying to beat the clock in getting to the parking ramp so I can get into work before it was too late.

This morning, I had to take a left in order to get to the ramp.  I had to wait, however, as two cars coming in my direction were making a right.  They were -- no, are -- employees in the same company and building as I.  So, remembering that there is a possibility that I will run into them at some point in the future, I waited.

The first car took a right.  The second car flipped its turn signal on, but started to slow down, moreso than a normal car.  And I'm still edgy, trying to get to work, you know?  So I waited ... but then creeped out a bit, and started my right turn.  And then the driver, sigh, she (?) slowed down, presumably because she thought I was being aggressive and was going to get to the turn before she did.  But then I stopped, and then she stopped, and -- AARGH! fine, I'm going!

OK, so in retrospect, I should have just creeped out into the intersection, turned on my turn signal ... and stopped.  But geez, this woman was driving slow.  Serious!  If anything, I should have just taken the turn before she did straight away.  Me hesitating -- should I go?  Should I wait? -- that got me into this annoying and frustrating situation.

And since she turned into the same ramp I did, I hurried to a spot and tried to get into the building as soon as I could, assuming that this driver would be as slow in parking and walking into work as she was taking the right turn.  I think I managed to avoid her.  But I think she knows what I look like.  What happens if she sees me in the same intersection tomorrow?  Or, worse, what happens if she recognizes me in, say, the lobby some time next week?  See, this is why I try to be a choir boy when driving.  If somebody perceives you being a jerk, it'll come back to haunt you, because there's nowhere for you to go.

I have to take a different way to work tomorrow.  That might help.  Maybe.