12. Anodyne
Anodyne
an-ə-deyen
Noun. Intended to avoid offense or disagreement.
an-ə-deyen
Noun. Intended to avoid offense or disagreement.
I've been at Burien Press for almost 2 hours doing some work remotely, and there is a teenager or young adult sitting a few seats down from me in the corner stomping his foot and occasionally growling. It looks like he's playing a video game on his phone. I wonder if he should be at school. Judging from his demeanor he doesn't look like he'd be too happy stuck in a classroom right now. He reminds me of some of the surly kids I've taught in the past, kids who refused to get off their phones, who saw school and my class as an intrusion into their lives, into their video game progress, and a pointless waste of time. I gotta sympathize, sometimes school is a pointless waste of time, but goddamnit, stop stomping your foot and growling! Have some civility, you're in a public place, young man. I feel so old! I remember skipping class in 8th grade to go smoke cigarettes at Hardee's with my bad friends. I should have more sympathy. But this kid is older than 8th grade for sure.
I keep looking at him to drop hints, but I'm afraid to approach him. Is this how conflict in society starts? People keep their needs and ideas to themselves so long they just eventually explode at eachother? People are trying to keep their interactions as anodyne as possible so they avoid saying anything at all that might cause conflict.
Damn, if I knew who this kid was, I'd call his mother. It's Monday morning and this uppity white lady thinks he should be doing something more productive with his time besides playing video games in the corner at a coffee shop. It's actually clever, he's able to hide back there out of view of the staff at the front counter. Maybe there's a story I don't know. Maybe he's a brother of one of the baristas and is autistic or schizophrenic or whatever, and his caring brother is just trying to keep him out of trouble and off the streets. God knows me and my whole family have tried everything to keep my schizophrenic little brother Joe out of trouble. He's never worked a "real" job a day in his life (I mean, unless you count the few times he tried to help my uncles and dad with construction projects and got paid under the table. But he usually did something to piss them off and got kicked off the job site after a day or two.
Okay, 30 minutes after I wrote that, I had to open this back up and add that two more unsavory characters have entered the scene, perhaps more unsavory than the foot-tapping growling kid in the corner (who's still here at 9:34, and was here before I arrived at 7:45). Two fleshy white tech bros wearing nerdy hoodies just sat across from me at the long table where I'm sitting and starting talking about their start-up and new product launches this week.
STFU.
It's now 10:21 and I had to come back and reflect on what a judgmental asshole I've been. I saw the kid get up and walk and he clearly has some mental and/or physical disability. Of course he's grunting and stomping his foot--he can't help it! I should be able to pick up on these things as someone who worked with children for so long. Goddamn...
Yes, the white and non-physically disabled bros were way more annoying than him.
It's probably not always about being as anodyne as possible--it's about reading the situation before you make judgments and decide how to react. People don't do that enough. We just let our emotions decide what we'll do.
Okay, it's now 10:50 and I don't care if I'm being a dick. A woman just sat down while on her phone and continued having a conversation (loudly).
STFU.
This is why I should work from home (bangs head on table). But working from home sucks. I just want to clean all the time and do yardwork.
STFU.
I keep looking at him to drop hints, but I'm afraid to approach him. Is this how conflict in society starts? People keep their needs and ideas to themselves so long they just eventually explode at eachother? People are trying to keep their interactions as anodyne as possible so they avoid saying anything at all that might cause conflict.
Damn, if I knew who this kid was, I'd call his mother. It's Monday morning and this uppity white lady thinks he should be doing something more productive with his time besides playing video games in the corner at a coffee shop. It's actually clever, he's able to hide back there out of view of the staff at the front counter. Maybe there's a story I don't know. Maybe he's a brother of one of the baristas and is autistic or schizophrenic or whatever, and his caring brother is just trying to keep him out of trouble and off the streets. God knows me and my whole family have tried everything to keep my schizophrenic little brother Joe out of trouble. He's never worked a "real" job a day in his life (I mean, unless you count the few times he tried to help my uncles and dad with construction projects and got paid under the table. But he usually did something to piss them off and got kicked off the job site after a day or two.
Okay, 30 minutes after I wrote that, I had to open this back up and add that two more unsavory characters have entered the scene, perhaps more unsavory than the foot-tapping growling kid in the corner (who's still here at 9:34, and was here before I arrived at 7:45). Two fleshy white tech bros wearing nerdy hoodies just sat across from me at the long table where I'm sitting and starting talking about their start-up and new product launches this week.
STFU.
It's now 10:21 and I had to come back and reflect on what a judgmental asshole I've been. I saw the kid get up and walk and he clearly has some mental and/or physical disability. Of course he's grunting and stomping his foot--he can't help it! I should be able to pick up on these things as someone who worked with children for so long. Goddamn...
Yes, the white and non-physically disabled bros were way more annoying than him.
It's probably not always about being as anodyne as possible--it's about reading the situation before you make judgments and decide how to react. People don't do that enough. We just let our emotions decide what we'll do.
Okay, it's now 10:50 and I don't care if I'm being a dick. A woman just sat down while on her phone and continued having a conversation (loudly).
STFU.
This is why I should work from home (bangs head on table). But working from home sucks. I just want to clean all the time and do yardwork.
STFU.
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