| As crazy as that was (and believe me, I did more than smile after it was over - I've already gotten phone calls and laughed with people about it), it wasn't the worst part of the night.
For reasons unknown, June Doe's secretary refuses to share a table with me. Usually in the conference room there are two folding tables set off the side. For every single meeting that is held in that room I use one of them to put my laptop on. It has never, ever, not even once been an issue with any other Committee. For a few meetings towards the end of the last school year it almost became a race to see who got there first.
If I got there first she would squeeze in with the Committee. If she got there first she would put up reserved signs on the table, despite the fact that neither she nor I needed even 50% of it. I've shared it with other reporters before, and there has always been plenty of room.
For the past several meetings they have instructed the janitors at Town Hall to lock up those two tables in a closet before I get there so that I can't use them. You may be asking yourself what does Mary Gormley, June's secretary, use if both tables are put away and locked up, and a very good question it would be.
They have begun bringing their own folding table for her to use. They are now literally going out of their way, trudging back and forth from the High School to Town Hall with their own table, just to make my life more difficult. I'm honestly not sure if it is done out of pettiness or spite. Of course, this now presents a new problem in that she sets up next to the power outlet. So, when I want to plug in my laptop I am forced to sit behind her, which she also finds intolerable. All this just so she won't have to sit at the same table as me.
I really, really, don't want it to be like this. I like most people, and I hope most people like me. I find it is much easier and pleasanter to go through life when interactions with others are congenial. While I won't back down, I don't like confrontations and I try to avoid them whenever possible. It seems to me that we've been through this whole table business enough that it is almost scripted, and a confrontation is inevitable.
I have honestly pondered the thought that maybe it is me. Maybe I am the problem. I don't blame Mary for being upset about all the extra work she has to do responding to my requests for public records, but when it's not a problem for a single other committee then I tend to conclude that it's not me after all. If it is, if she would only tell me what it is she finds so disagreeable about sitting with me, then I will work to correct it. I'll shower before meetings if I smell, I'll brush my teeth again, I'll stop tapping my notebook with my pen if that's the problem.
It's gone beyond absurd when I'm getting yelled at for smiling. There has to be a better way. I'm willing to do my part, but I can't do it alone. |
