The Bewitching Hour

Well, it’s 3:00am on a workday. 

This is the hour that I’m stirred awake by the drone of a train whistle.
   

This is the hour when everything and anything is possible… except the possibility of falling back to sleep.

This is the hour I think about all the possibilities of the future and the memories of the past. 

This is the hour I think back to this morning… or I should say yesterday morning.

It was great day!

It started off with me irritating an outside contractor who was coming in to videotape his presentation for his book. 

When I let him into the building, he seemed irritable, but many people are like that in the mornings.  We talked a bit.  He seemed quiet, but fine.  When I left him, he seemed fine. 

I had no idea that I had ruffled his peacock feathers when I asked him a question regarding the resources he used for his book — well, not until my supervisor came to me and told me. 

Another co-worker overheard my exchange with Mr. Peacock.  He summed up the encounter like this:  Anne Marie asked a question that required Mr. Peacock to accept accountability and responsibility for his work.  He did not like that, so he threw a tantrum.

Yep.  He went to my supervisor and complained about me.  During that rant of his, he threw in the fact that he was annoyed that he had scheduled this shoot during his vacation.  He was @#$%&*! about that as well.  My supervisor tried to calm things down, but he got upset with her for not understanding why he was so upset with me.

Yeah, it was a great day!

So, to keep this peacock’s ego stroked, my supervisor took me off the video shoot, and she had to do it instead.

Then she had to update her boss, the VP of the company, in case Mr. Peacock decided to complain to him about me.

Then I had to stay hidden in my office, not to accidently run into Mr. Peacock.

Yeah, it was a great day!

When my co-workers saw my supervisor in the shoot — instead of me — they knew something was up and wanted to make sure I was OK…so, I had to tell them what was going on. 

Yeah, it was a great day!

When I told them, they wanted to painfully pluck a couple of feathers from Mr. Peacock’s butt… but because he has several products with us, they could only stroke this doodle bird’s ego instead.  

Even though no one can change Mr. Peacock, it was comforting to see how very supportive and protective everyone was toward me — even the VP.  They recognize that Mr. Peacock was the problem, not me.  He’s the one that came in with a disagreeable and defensive attitude about things.   

Mr. Peacock’s ego may be intact, but what he doesn’t see is that he’s lost all credibility with all those who have to deal with him.  This is what happens when someone doesn’t accept the consequences of his actions and tries to blame others for his bad decisions. 

As for me… because he felt a need to use me for target practice, I don’t have to deal with Mr. Peacock for the rest of his visit… and most probably, will not have to interface with him for as long as I’m employed there.

Yeah, it was a great day!