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| This bees nest is the size of a beach ball high in a birch tree! Ironic that we show a bee's nest for this post..... |
He was a little weasel, kind of reminded me somewhat of a nervous twit. He smoked cigarettes like I ate candy. I was a ‘Key-Op’, one of two, who was responsible for running several high speed Xerox machines, as well as a multitude of other production equipment. Often times the stress level was incredible, especially for the crap wage we got paid. This one day, he was on his period or it may have been that he got his wimp ass chewed by his girlfriend that morning. Anyway, he came down out of his glass enclosed upstairs lair, and tried to be a manager on the floor in the middle of a rush hour with several deadlines looming. He commandeered one of the machines and it jammed. This set off a chain reaction that reverberated across the work floor, and eventually landed on me in the form of him yelling, needlessly, and with no merit, at me, in front of a multitude of customers lined up at the counter waiting for their orders. I remember looking at the clock and seeing that I had gone an hour past my lunch break, remember thinking to myself, “and all for this?” The next thing that happened is still vivid in my memory to this day. I looked at him as his little skinny face was turning red as his nappy head and said…and I quote…”fuck you!” Next, I took of my standard issue apron, walked upstairs, clocked out, walked back down stairs and past him as he stood there more than likely wondering if I was going to go outside and come back in to whack his ass, walked past him out the front door, got in my car and went home. That my friends, was the end! It was survival mode and a struggle for some time, but over the course of time and 20 years later, I have grown my business, twice now in new towns all over again, no advertisement at all just word of mouth, and am as busy as I want to be, and some times I think a little busier than I would like. Odd how in the face of adversity, we sometimes find our saving grace!
So, what are you wondering does this have to do with 5 years in Alaska?
Well, the same dynamic created a huge shift in our family about 4 weeks ago. Same scenario, a bunch of men with money, huge egos and not a lick of common sense, that would rather play ‘lemonade stand’ than run a lodge that could have the potential of turning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year if it was run right. Quite literally a legend in his own mind of a fishing guide….”the king of the river”…give me a break…who is 1/42 part owner in the company, a moron who litterally whines like a little girl (no offense to little girls), who would rather cry because nobody treates him with the respect of an owner. He doesn't understand the simple concept that people treat you, just like you treat them! I truly believe his goal in life was to yell at and harass my wife. Often times people would ask me, "how do you handle it? I would have beat him by now!"
Answer: Incredible patience! And knowing that at the end of the day, he is still the same miserable wrought which he brings upon himself....we go home happy!
To give you an example, the idiot called my wifes cell phone one night, whilst we were having a heated debate ironically enough over the lodge and the way they were treating her. I picked it up in frustration, after seeing who it was....I don't like him at all....picked up her phone, grinned, and immediately hung it up, said, and I quote, “that takes care of that asshole” and continued to converse with my wife. Little did I know, the phone never actually hung up…smart phones are actually dumb… and this despicable excuse of a man actually sat on his phone, listening to my wife and I’s private conversation in our home for God knows how long. Then, he actually went to the president of the company the next day and tattled on us in regards to what we were talking about in the privacy of our own home and what he had heard!! Like it was any of his business!!! I know what your thinking…why did I even bother being so spiteful in my actions as to have picked up the phone in the first place?! It is hard to keep your cool when your wife and sanity are under barrage!! Then to add insult to injury, the president of the lodge actually spoke to my wife about her and I’s private conversation that the little whiny man had listened in on, and told her that she needed to apologize to him…for choosing to listen in on our conversation instead of hanging up…and hearing me call him an asshole! Really??!! WTF!!! Just a small example folks of the drama and abuse and totally mindless activities that took place there. I could write a book on it all.
I believe the last straw, although it all escalated over time, at least over the course of the past few years with the economy faltering in the lower 48 and bookings down, was when the president of the lodge came into the office, acting on a complaint from the little whiny fishing guide…one complaint of many that happened almost daily…that the office had once again screwed up whiny boys' little fishing schedule, and big Mr. President started yelling at my wife and her assistant, ranting that he is the president and they need to listen to him.
Keep in mind, again, this is just a small example. The same schedules were made daily for several other vendors and guides, and ironically no mistakes were ever made with them…only whiny trouble maker mister big guide man. In fact, even though he back peddled on his own proclamation with this one, ‘the president’, seeing earlier in the week during one of the babies rants that there was a potential of foul play going on towards the office, made a decree only a week prior, that the big weenie fishing guide, 1/42 owner, would have to make calls the week before with his clients to confirm trips from now on, since the office was apparently not capable of doing this right, and the little girly fishing guide whined and cried because he didn’t know how to handle this kind of thing. Not happy with the office doing it, and he cries when he has to do it....but demands respect. A prime example of how this idiot was constantly setting up my wife to fail. “This is the offices job” he cried! You know, the office that couldn’t do anything right?!! Anyways, after the little baby cried and sniveled to the president, that is when el presidente raised a fit at the office for the next mistake, which ironically wasn’t really a mistake at all, it was that the president of the company and the little fishing guide baby man, 1/42 owner, didn’t know what was going on…because they don’t run the office and were clueless. Hmmm, ya think if you paid more attention to your own company….awe, never mind. Anyhow, it was always a real no win situation for my wife and her office assistants constantly. They were always wrong, always took the hits from the little boys that tried to run a big business, and they, most especially my wife, were overworked, underpaid and never really appreciated. Did I mention they were yelled at constantly?!
So, that night after coming home and looking completely and utterly defeated, she looked at me with this lifeless look about her. I about felt like enough was enough seeing her so beat down, and told her to quit! I said to her, the stress from the potential financial hit that we may incur from losing that monthly income couldn’t be any worse than the stress and defeat she faces daily and seems to keep getting worse because of a little weenie 'big man' fishing guide that wants to beat her down and a ‘president’ of a company he calls his own who won’t defend her much less appreciate the fact that she is the only one who is really running his company. A grown man verbally beating down a woman. I really feel sorry for his wife. The guy really is less than a man. The next breath of hers was to call the president of the lodge, telling him she couldn’t do this anymore and was resigning.
Know what he said?
Being prideful and foolish with an overinflated ego, he said the worst thing you could say to someone in that state of mind. He said, “well, it’s probably best”. Keep in mind, this is the same man who told me two days later, “well, I’m sure she will calm down and come back to work in a day or two”. Wow. Again, I ask…really??!!
That was the day president of the lodge shot himself in the foot while the big ego ridden moron, 1/42 owner, ran around laughing as he burnt down his own house.
Want to know what happens next!
