My cube was just as depressing as any other. To try to brighten it, I tacked various things to the walls. Among my favorites, were postcards of Picasso, a small drawing done by a friend of mine, and a couple of cards my wife had given me. I also liked to display news articles that would irritate my boss, or those around me.
For instance, I once taped, to the side of our pod, an article about how the average worker needs regular and substantial raises to remain happy. My boss did not find it amusing. In my experience, Wal-Mart gave regular, but not substantial raises. After our annual evaluation one year, I asked a co-worker how it went. He summed up how we both felt about Wal-Mart’s compensation package by saying, “You know, the usual. Wal-Mart pretends to pay me and I pretend to work.” Anyway, the articles made the day more interesting when people would, as I expected, get upset about the content. While I did expect some strong responses, it taught me that people take things personally far to easily.
For a while, a particularly politically conservative man sat in the cube across from me. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll call him Sam. One day, we had a conversation about Timothy McVeigh. Sam thought that McVeigh deserved to die for his transgressions. In that particular situation, it’s an easy position to take. I happen to believe that the death penalty is based primarily on vengeance and doesn’t provide an ounce of deterrence. I told him how I feel and, knowing Sam to be a professed Christian, added that I didn’t think Jesus would approve of the death penalty, even the execution of Timothy McVeigh. He retorted with some lame argument about how Jesus would, if necessary, resort to violence. As an example, he pointed to Jesus’ anger at the temple money changers. I found Sam typical of a Christian fundamentalist.
The next day, I tacked, to the wall facing Sam, an article arguing how the death penalty is cruel and unusual, especially in its application in the United States. I left it there until Sam no longer worked at Wal-Mart. How he left is for another post.
Posted by The Survivor 