… the faces of the people that come into my office. Its like reading books, but it only takes a second. Sometimes I think that I am quite good at this - at least the people look surprised often when I tell them what they came for, what mood they are in and how their sleep was before they have even completely arrived at my desk. Its useful most of the time. I like to be mentally prepared. If my superior suddenly runs into my office, ready to shout her whole lungs dry because something went wrong again and there is no one else to blame, I like to sit there with a clam serene smile on my face, like her voice was the seashore in a warm summer. Its annoying, I know, but sometimes I even like to annoy people - especially when they feel like controlling me. As I said, I sometimes think that I'm quite good at it.
The only person I can't read that easily is the Admin guy. When he enters my office, I am the one read to the bone. He walks down the hallway, turning to my door, standing there for nearly a minute looking at my desk - looking at me. These people seem to have an uneasing way of knowing what is wrong. One time I was printing a huge list of sales contacts when the spooler suddenly flooded me with error messages. The second I was about to stand up shouting at my computer, he was walking by. Seeing me, he tiredly leaned on the doorpost saying: “I was about to fix the the printer this evening, but I guess now is a better time”, and went off. Only seconds later the spooler resumed.
The only thing I read out of him are his t-shirts. Do you know these IT-shirts? Its a bit freaky, sometimes I even think its ridiculous, but it seems to be his way to tell people how stupid they are. These shirts carry quotes of famous IT-celebrities, funnily applied commands, pictures or whole comic strips. The day he was fixing that printer, he was wearing that had “If only you and dead people can read hex, how many people can?” written on it. The seconds from him walking off to him returning, having the printer fixed, I spent thinking about it - it felt like hours. I didn't get it - of cause. When he walked by my office door again, I shouted after him and asked about it: “Why the hell should dead people read hex?”, I asked and he laughed. “You got it all wrong… think some more about it”, he said, and walked off again.
That day wasn't really productive after that. I was not only thinking about dead people reading, I was also wondering why I couldn't read him like the others? He had a disturbing way of bumping into people in trouble - he was the one reading people. The people only read his t-shirts - obviously I do, too. Whats with that shirts anyway? If anyone came up to you, asking you a question about a topic from his or her area of expertise that you obviously wouldn't know, wouldn't you consider that really bold of that person? At least I would consider that person a complete show-off. These t-shirts are different, though. No one comes at you, forcing you to read it. No one forces you to think about it. Its just your personal will to integrate. Me for example: I just can't help reading it and of cause I want to understand what I read, right? Wouldn't you, too? I wonder if he is that much a sadist to torture our minds with his newest t-shirts and believe me, he never tells. This way no one minds him changing his shirts maybe once a week - it has its good part that way, for him as well as for the rest of us.
I am still wondering what his shirt of today might mean… dead people reading hex… I still don't get it.
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