I think that I have been pretty clear in the fact that I do not like people; individuals I can like just fine, but people in general I do not understand.
Then my work circumstances forced me to share a house with two other individuals. I have tried to make the best of things and just buck up and take it. In my own defense I think I have done a very good job of not being mean to anybody in the house, even when I wanted to hide rotten shellfish in someone’s bedroom or urinate in his sock drawer.
I ended up with the roommate from the retarded version of the Brady Bunch. He acts just like the middle boy from the popular TV show if he were mildly retarded. (I guess that to be politically correct I should call him ‘challenged’ but for the shock value I shall continue to call him ‘retarded’.)
When he first arrived at the house he complained about how difficult it was living with other people and how he always did things this way and so on and so forth. He proclaimed his special needs and took over the kitchen every night to prepare his special diet while not leaving room for anyone else to prepare a meal. The other roommate and I learned to just leave him alone, pretty much changing our schedule to avoid all contact with him in order to not have to listen to his never ending stupid questions and criticisms.
We segregated ourselves from him as much as we could, limiting ourselves to having to clean up after him and dealing with him in the early morning right before work, then feeling relief when he went out to wait for the short buss to the jobsite and smoke cigarettes, standing in the cold and staring into space while muttering to himself.
He quickly became the laughing stock of the crew. His imagined superiority made him difficult to be around and he was quick to tell everyone that we are all doing everything wrong. One particular highlight was when he proclaimed to anyone that would listen that the guy that he was working with could not even use simple tools and should not be working with us. The guy that supposedly can’t use tools has been with the company for over seven years and is a foreman, now the retarded guy’s boss.
Now that things are winding on down the job it is time for layoffs. My retarded roommate made the first cut. He was stunned. The day he was told he could not accept it and told anyone that would listen that it was not fair and that he could not understand why they would choose him. I got to the house before him that night and immediately hid in my room, making it difficult for him to complain to me.
Now the guy that could not stand living here seems to not want to go. He was laid off two days ago and is still living in the house. (Supposedly to go skiing.) I think that he believes that it is all a joke and that he will be called back to work, saving us all from certain doom. Many comments he has made to me in the past leads me to believe that he is delusional and in need of a mental health professional, so I would not be surprised to learn that he has convinced himself that he was hired by us for some higher purpose and that he is destined to save us all from ourselves and finally receive the recognition he deserves.
So far he has failed gloriously failed to do so.
