Mass confusion

I think Rod just lives in a state of constant mass confusion.

For instance, I arrived at the office first today.  I turned on the lights after unlocking the door and getting the newspaper.  Rod gets to work, and apparently did not notice the paper was missing, that the lights were on, or even that the door was unlocked.  I heard him as he struggled to re-lock the door, tried to push it open, then had to unlock it, and came in.  He thought it was funny.  I thought it was just sad that after working here for how many years?  He still doesn't know which way to turn the key to lock or unlock the door.  I know counter clockwise opens it after unlocking it perhaps 4 times.  Poor, poor Rod.

Sometimes you have to explain things to Rod every single day of the week.  As an example, we have an ongoing issue... well... ROD has an ongoing issue with his signature file in email.  No matter how many times I explain it to him, in the simplest of terms, he will forget again by the next day what the answer is.  The funny part is that each and every following day he will ask Jennifer what the status is.  After going back and forth, eventually, Jennifer will have to call out to me and say "What's the status again?"  Bless her heart, she never gets mad.  Then I get up, walk over to them, and explain it all over again.  Really, it gets tiresome to say the same thing every single day.  Really.  Tiresome.

Today, he didn't like my answer any more than he ever likes it, turned away from me, and scooted up to his desk.  "Are you dismissing me then, Rod?"  His terse reply "YES, you are DISMISSED!" made my eyes pop open as I turned to gauge Jennifer's reaction.  I saw the same big eyes reflected back at me.  I guess we know where I stand now...

Rod often gets confused by news items that he has already been given.  For instance, when he came in this morning (after initially locking himself out), he asked me how some training went after his departure the day before.  Despite the email I had already sent to him, I explained verbally that it didn't really happen at all.  Due to a licensing problem, it would appear two machines cannot run this software concurrently on a given network.  I emailed Rod about this AND told him verbally.  He then came up to me about 15 minutes ago, he interrupted me (again while on a conference call) to tell me I would be doing a customer install of this product in 30 minutes.  He again asked me how the training went.  Again I told him of the licensing problem.  He acted shocked and disappointed, as though to say "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"  I repeated for him, I should not be doing the install for the first time on a customer's machine, that Dave should do this.  The look of shock and anxiety did not diminish.  I tried to reassure.  "I will watch the install closely, take notes, we'll get the licensing worked out...." while I was outlining a course of action, right in the middle of my sentence and thought, Rod just walked away and went back to his cubicle.  My words drifted to a stop.  "Um, does that mean we are done with the conversation?"  As his chair squeaked, he said curtly "Yes, Ma'am."  "Alrighty then..."

Do you think when conversations get too confusing for his muddled thoughts that he just ends them?  Is it so he can hide his confusion, or so he can continue on and think things out in his brain, in silence?  Whatever the reason, he's definitely rude and demeaning when he does it.

He can't even BEGIN to get names right.  He's called me by at least 4 names.  He's got Jennifer and Dave down pretty well though.  My partner?  Let's just say that's like watching Endora (from Bewitched) talk to or about Samantha's husband, Darrin.  Equivalently, my poor guy gets called anything from Derrick to Durwood and everything else in between.  I don't even try any more.  As long as he hits a name with a "D" I consider it good to go.  He even gets his own name wrong!  When trying to find our account with a vendor, the only contact they could find was RON.Acme@acme.com.  I know, right? I can hear your sad sighs already.

Do you suppose being that ... um... confused is like being high all the time?  Do you think he ever knows how stupid he seems?  Or is he so stupid, he doesn't even realize his stupidity?  There must be a circular formula there.  The more stupid you are, the less you recognize your own failures...

I'll leave you with those thoughts, so until next time, everyone!

Eye Tee Girl