Community Service

Most times, I'm a nice person. I like to treat people well and be positive. I like to do things that help out the community and make the world a better place. Which is probably why I ended up volunteering to represent the profession at career day today at a local high school.

A small team of coworkers and I set up a booth and had handouts ready to deal with moody, rambunctious teenagers. A few of them were actually interested and asked pertinent questions. Most were just wandering around from booth to booth, collecting the free pens and enjoying time out of the classroom. Then there were the few idiots who like to cause mischief in order to grab some attention (even negative attention), if it helps them stand out, however brief.

One particular idiot was carrying a guitar and decided to approach our booth when we had quite a big crowd of students laughing at our cheesy presentation. The guitar idiot made his way to the front of the crowd and started making wise cracks about my profession. I didn't mind that, because we kept it light and fun for the students, and we had used the same jokes earlier in the day.

Then guitar idiot asked us about how much we made. I told him, We make enough to do the things we like to do for fun! When he asked, Like what?, I told him, Fun things only adults get to enjoy. That got a laugh out of the other students.

Then the guitar idiot started asking inappropriate questions about the opposite sex and office hanky panky. I tried to be polite and steer the discussion towards other subjects, but the guitar idiot just kept getting louder and more obscene when I didn't take his bait. There were women present, and I don't think they liked the direction the jokes were heading. Guitar idiot was getting on my nerves, because he was getting crass and rude. So I shut him down and said that anyone who comes to work just to play hanky panky instead of doing their job will soon get fired and be unemployed; and no one wants to play hanky panky with a loser like that.

The students laughed at that, and I could tell that guitar idiot was pissed and getting ready to make a smart reply. But the bell rang for lunch and the kids dispersed. By the time we broke down our booth in the afternoon, I was tired and feeling a bit grouchy. I wasn't feeling so upbeat and positive when we left the building to go home.

On our way to the parking lot, we came across guitar idiot, sitting on the curb with his delinquent friends, trying to look cool and playing his guitar. He saw us coming and made wisecracks about us so his buddies would laugh. One of my coworkers asked them why they weren't in class. Guitar idiot puffed up and said he didn't feel like going to class.

So I told him, "You should try to go to classes more."

He snickered, "Why? So I could be a drone like you, stuck in a boring job?"

I couldn't resist answering, "No, because I've heard your guitar playing and it sucks. Frankly, you're better off getting an education. Don't be a fool; stay in school."

Most times, I'm a nice person. But there are a few times when I'm not very nice at all.