I’m boiling with rage. I can’t believe what happened to my boss today. She is a wonderful lady-- a joy to work with, really. Actually, I think of her almost as another mom. But that doesn’t matter. Even if she was a bitch, she wouldn’t have deserved what happened to her this afternoon.
She’s had health problems over the last year, and had to have her index finger amputated a month ago because of a progressive disease. She’s back at work, even though she’s not fully recovered from it.
We work in a museum, and today, we had a large group of senior citizens coming in from out of town to go on a tour. “Amy” (as I’ll call her) was ringing up their admission fees at the register. Two old men approached.
Looking at her hand, he snickered and said, very loudly, so others could appreciate his wit, “What happened to your finger? Did you chop it off while skinning a chicken?”
Stunned, Amy replied, “Well, no, sir. I have a disease and I had to have it removed.”
The man exploded into laughter, as if she’d told a great joke. He nudged his friend standing beside him, who also started laughing, and pointing. The rest of the group watched impassively.
I’ll give Amy credit for her strength. She finished the tour (though the assholes were making snide comments throughout) and waited until they had left the building before breaking down into tears.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, as she was telling me the story. “I’m just not used to it yet. I’m still so self-concious about my finger, and for him to say that . . .”
I was so angry, I wished they hadn’t left yet so I could give them hell. “They ought to be glad I didn’t hear that,” I seethed. “Why didn’t you tell them to leave?”
“I was just so stunned,” she wept. “I couldn’t believe it!”
The cruelty of mankind never ceases to amaze me. He’s an elderly man, who doesn’t have the excuse of youth or ignorance the way a child does. (And if I ever saw my child say something like that, I would kill them!) As I told Amy, I’m angry enough to almost wish the same thing that happened to her on him, but I don’t, because no one deserves to go through that.
Bastard.