Some People Don’t Respect Anyone

A few years ago, I was chatting with my coworkers after we all got back from our winter break. We were discussing what we had done, and I mentioned visiting my grandmother in the care home she was living in. I mentioned how wonderful it was that she actually seemed to recognize me during this visit, given that her being lucid was not a guarantee at that point.

Most of my coworkers were understanding and supportive, but then one new guy suddenly walked over and cut in.

New Guy: “So, have you emptied her accounts yet? I mean, if she’s not using it and won’t remember…”

He broke into obnoxious laughter, and I saw red, largely because one of my cousins had actually tried exactly that — trying to steal the money the entire family had put together to make sure my grandmother was cared for.

I was so mad I couldn’t even speak, and I stood up and just walked out into the hall to calm down. I heard my coworkers tearing into [New Guy] as I walked out.

After a couple of minutes of getting my head back on straight, I was ready to head back in, when [New Guy] came walking out. The moment he spotted me, he decided to run his mouth again.

New Guy: *In a very mocking voice* “Oh, lookie here. It’s Miss Buzzkill. Can’t even take a joke!”

Me: *Snapping just a bit* “At least my grandmother has people who care. You’re going to die alone.”

He actually looked shocked that I’d fired back. I stalked past him back into the office. My coworkers offered their sympathies, and we got back to work.

I found out later that [New Guy] tried to run to our collective boss to whine about me being mean to him. “Sadly,” several other people had already talked to the boss about him harassing me and a couple of others, so he ended up getting written up for his behavior. He spent a few months after that basically sulking at the fact that he was so unpopular within the office due to his abrasive approach to every conversation.

My grandmother passed shortly after that. I took some time off and ended up moving into a new job altogether. However, I kept in touch with several of my coworkers, which is how I heard how [New Guy]’s time there ended. He ended up being arrested when he was found trying to forge invoices to steal money from the company. That makes me certain that his “joke” wasn’t so much of a joke at all.