ON GRIPING

I was just working hard - you know, standing in the lobby watching a cartoon - when another employee walked by. Through his expletive-laced rambling, one thing became abundantly clear - he is not happy with his job.

He railed against how work doesn't get done and it falls back on him. He railed against having to do work that wasn't in his job description. He railed against the administrators and their decisions. Meanwhile, on TV, Anakin and Obi-Wan chased Count Dooku.

I politely excused myself from this rant and came into my office. Not because I had any pressing work to get done, but really to avoid being the target of his next tirade. Sure enough, his voice carried down the hall, griping about and cursing everything on campus.

I thought back to when I was a busboy half a lifetime ago. Something had happened - likely nothing serious, we were just busy and I let loose with a similar tirade. Probably a little less profanity. And another busboy - one whose highest aspiration in life was to make enough money to continue buying marijuana - said "If you hate it so much, why don't you just quit?" I was speechless for a moment, and he continued: "Seriously, if this is the worst job in the world, leave. If it isn't, shut up and get back to work."

I wish I had said that to my co-worker today. I'm afraid he would have actually quit, though, leaving more work for the rest of us. And then how would I find out what happened to Anakin and Obi-Wan?