Thursday, June 19, 2008

Really?!? This is OK?

I promised myself I wouldn't dip into politics again....yet here I am. But it's only incidentially related to politics, really!

I have a cube-neighbor, we'll call him Bill. Bill is a nice gentleman in his 50s - but Bill is incredibly conservative. Bill has pictures of George W Bush up on his cube walls, as well as various propaganda items for John McCain's 2008 campaign. (He is also an ardent Yankees supporter, but we won't hold that against him)

Bill mostly keeps his opinions to himself - cube decorations not included. Mostly he does that because I'm outside Portland, OR...home of hippies, Prius's beyond count, legalized suicide, and more pot jokes than you can stand. Saying Bill's political view is unwelcome here is an understatement...so Bill tends to keep his mouth shut.

Except this morning. When for 20 minutes, he took a phone call from the Republican National Committee - they were looking for campaign money.

Now, if you don't currently work in a cube farm, let me enlighten you. Those 6' fabric-covered walls give a nice illusion of privacy - but it's only an illusion. All conversations are audible to people up to 30 feet away or more.

So I and my fellow workers were "treated" to a 20 minute discussion on why he's not going to donate to the RNC because he'd rather give it to McCain directly. Said discussion also included how much he gives (on a monthly basis, he proudly mentioned several times). He also had a nice chat with the solicitor on McCain's chances on winning, and apparently both agreed that it would be a long struggle, but McCain would manage to eek it out over Obama. It was, to all intents and purposes, a 20-minute commercial for McCain.

Since when was it OK to (1) solicit people at work and (2) take that kind of call and chat WHILE AT WORK.

((Oh, and I guarantee that if I were the person on the phone with an Obama staffer...he'd have something to say to me when I was done))

3 comments:

Pam Hawk said...

Ha! Ok, sorry to laugh, but I live in a cube farm call center and I've heard more than my share of very interesting conversations...that I didn't really want to hear.

Does he not really recognize he's in Portland? Or was he showing off? Good grief. That's like parading around the office in nothing but his tighty whities. TMI, my friend.

(And don't forget, in your mention of Prius driving, recycling, hippie holdouts, bicycles are cars too. But I love it here.)

KieutiePie said...

HEY! You haven't updated in a while. When are you gonna write something that's... not politic-y? =}

TexasTesla said...

Lol Kieu...come back! I just did! :-)