Mostly (But Not Totally!) Venting

Let me express my irritation at a certain person here at work who chooses to disregard our intraoffice telephone system and simply holds conversations with other co-workers by yelling from one office to another. As grating as this is, it's even worse when this person happens to be in my office when the yelling starts. When you're about six feet away from someone when they suddenly trying to project their voice clear down the hall, it tends to be somewhat unpleasant, particularly early in the morning.

Last week I started bringing my lunch to work (Brandi has been kind enough to pack said lunch for me most of the time) and eating here at my desk during my break. I keep a book here and read while I eat. For the most part, I like it. I'm saving money on gas and meals by not going out each day. Since I don't have to spend time driving and waiting in line, I also have longer to read. That's the best part of the deal. However, I have a co-worker (whom I've mentioned before) who frequently just wanders around the office, and yesterday with about five minutes remaining in my lunch break this person burst into my office and just started talking to me. Why in the hell would you start small talk with someone who's reading? Does it occur to people that someone engrossed in a book might not want to be interrupted? This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine--if someone is reading, leave them alone! I was enormously tempted to ignore this person, but the incessant blathering would have precluded concentrating on my book at any rate.

As you can probably tell, it's been a week full of annoyances here at work. Earlier this week (Monday, most likely, although the days have a tendency to run together) an accounting rep for one of our vendors saw fit to get snippy with me over the matter of some unpaid invoices, despite the fact that I have no control over payment and I was trying to help her resolve the matter. As it turns out, I have to call that company back today because of an incomplete delivery, so that should be fun. Yesterday my damned phone just wouldn't stop ringing. I hate having a telephone on my desk in the first place so I happily would have taken a hammer or blowtorch to the damned thing, but I managed to restrain myself.

I've noticed a growing trend lately. It is becoming increasingly common to see semi trucks cruising in the left (passing) lane on the interstate. This is maddening enough when cars do it, but when trucks are over there it can really stagnate traffic for a long time. The only time anyone--cars or trucks--should ever be in the left lane of an interstate is when they are actively passing, or on the rare occasions when the upcoming exit ramp is on the left side. Otherwise, stay to the right.

Who exactly started the fad of putting huge ribbon stickers on the back of cars? Those things look absolutely terrible. They may (or may not) express admirable sentiments; I wouldn't know, because any time I look at them for any length of time, my eyes start bleeding. I try to keep that to a minimum.

On Monday night I started reading the book Watchers by Dean Koontz. I've read it many, many times before, and it's one of my absolute favorite books. It's the only one I can think of offhand that actually has the power to frighten me, no matter how many times I read it, so I thought it would be a fitting selection for the week leading up to Halloween. I'm not totally thrilled with Koontz's writing skills, but he spins a hell of a yarn.