<aliens>
No. You’ll have to get up into orbit and nuke the whole thing from space.
</aliens>:D
Around here, Al would be in line for a big promotion.
RickJay, I know you must be frustrated out of your mind, but I have to say that you are a great writer and had me laughing so hard my coworkers must have been annoyed with me. 
Really, you should quit your job and freelance write. 
(Even though you went to Queens’.)
Seriously, I just spent the morning wrestling with my own “Als” (I supervise a couple of folks like this, but it’s that extra fun style of supervision where I am supposed to provide growth direction without actually being empowered to enforce anything…) Your post brightened me right up.
Your situation is unfortunately far from unique, however. Let’s have a beer sometime and I’ll tell ya some stories.
'vark
P.S. I’m really sorry you got shot at the end of Heist.
Yeah, but I got to hang with Gene Hackman. How cool is that?
RickJay, I’m sorry if I jumped to conclusions on the “tirade” thing - from the tone of your OP and the reported previous conflicts between Al and other employees, I thought you were angrier about the situation than you actually appear to be. Much better to vent here than at your boss!
I hope there is some solution that will work out to both you and Al’s benefit - I feel sorry for Al, as he can’t help being the way he is, but I also realize that working with him would try the patience of a saint.
Good luck with your meeting with the boss tomorrow!
Hey! Them’s fightin’ words! (And besides, it’s “Queen’s”, like the Queen Herself; not “Queens’”, like Queens, New York.)
Maybe RickJay got to hang with Gene Hackman, but we got to hang with Dan Aykroyd. In the clubs. Wait, that wasn’t so cool, nevermind.
I’m guessing, due to the quote in matt_mcl’s post, that he, too, has High Functioning Autism? I’m not trying to start any rumours, and I apologize if I’m wrong, that’s just the way I read it.
RickJay, you should send the OP to Scott Adams.
Stephen, complete the following sentence:
Then I’ll know for sure you are one of the Chosen. BTW, to anyone who doesn’t get it, Dan Ackroyd’s from Kingston, where my alma mater is. He used to hang out in the clubs and try to pick up university chicks with his fame. It was pathetic beyond belief.
Michael Ellis: Good idea.
I wouldn’t be too bloody quick to diagnose someone you’ve never seen based on RickJay’s extremely funny rant.
As matt said, don’t be too quick to pin this on Aspergers/HFA. I cannot stress enough that not all people on the spectrum are like Al and there are people with the personality quirks and charming disposition of Al who are not on the spectrum. I’m shuddering at the very idea of floating to someone’s boss that a co-worker has a lifelong neurological disorder based on nothing but a parent’s reading of articles in a doctor’s waiting room and a few web pages.
And Rick, you have my intense sympathy. It sounds like hell to work with him and I hope you get a move.
It’s about time I had one. 
Better to judge Al as willfully unpleasant than be open to the possibility that it may be beyond his control? From my reading, everyone qualified their statements in some way so it was clear this was not a professional opinion. It is much more humane, in my opinion, to consider the possibility that Al has a problem, and is not just a jackass that should be terminated post haste. Get a grip.
Gee, Primaflora, do you suppose you could control that knee long enough to read what people actually said?
Everyone that mentioned HFA/AS/autism pointed out that they weren’t qualified to make a diagnosis; we were simply pointing out the strong similarity in behaviors.
Who said they were?
First of all: Cite? AS was only added to the DSM IV in 1994 - was there some sort of Global Adult AS Testing Program since then that established this alleged fact?
Secondly: Whether or not he has AS, HFA, NLD, or some other difficulty, the fact remains that Al’s behavior is having a negative impact on his job performance and relations with coworkers. When that happens, it’s time to seek professional help with discovering why, and how best to cope/adapt so as to achieve a healthier, happier life.
I suggested no such thing - I suggested that RickJay point out Al’s eccentric behavior and express concern for his physical/mental condition, with the consideration that Al might benefit from a professional evaluation/check-up.
I suppose that Waverly, Chotii, and I should have just minded our own business so everyone could continue to sneer at and make fun of Al, instead of pointing out the possibility that he might not be aware of, or fully in control of, his behavior.
Oh, and as a struggling, unemployed mental health patient myself, I think your post was rude, undeserved, and, frankly, sucked like a turbo-charged Hoover vac.
UPDATE: I had the meeting. The meeting concentrated primarily on my role in the company and my dissatisfaction with it. Al was a secondary issue. Frankly, our boss knows what’s up with that, so I didn’t have to say a whole lot. Coincidentally, Al’s annual performance review is this afternoon and our boss has assured me that he will have a long discussion with him on making the separation between our jobs abundantly clear.
I didn’t harp on any Al-details or make any suggestions about getting him a shrink because, frankly, it’s not appropriate at this time. I kept the conversation on MY role and MY job, which is my concern, and it worked out OK at least for now. I’'m sure battles with Al are yet to come but now I have my lines of defense formally established and approved by upper management, and I can be assertive about it.
Perhaps most importantly; A new office is in the future for the Rickster. Thank God.
Just punch Al in the face everytime he says something contradicting or completely being a pain ass.
Fool to English Translation:
Just punch Al in the face every time he says something contradictory or is being a complete pain in the ass.
Fool to Philosophical Message Translation:
The internet: it brings dipshits and normal people together like no other medium.
… na ban’righinn gu brath. Cha gheill!
And, sadly, he still does. I have reports from frosh of seeing him in Stages* just last year.
[sub]*Stages: A Kingston dance club, known for being over-crowded and slightly sleazy. (Not, however, the sleaziest club frequented by students.[/sub]
Oh, and I forgot to say:
Congratulations, Rick, on getting the situation mostly resolved, and to your satisfaction. Whatever Al’s problem(s) may be, at least you’ll be able to work in peace!
OK.
Waverley as always you continue to be a drooling dipshit.
coosa – background to my reaction. I’m the parent of 2 kids with dx’es on the spectrum. One kid in particular may or may not be depending on the professional who sees him. Aspergers in particular is a highly subjective diagnosis. And it’s becoming a highly fashionable diagnosis. I just got fucking pissed off to see Al’s issues attributed to HFA or Aspergers. I’m sure with time and effort I could dredge up a webpage that says not everyone with social issues and control issues is on the spectrum. Equally I’m sure it would be a piece of cake to find one which you all could use to dx the poor bastard on line. Or we could take up a collection and send him to Australia to see Tony Attwood http://www.tonyattwood.com
as he’s never seen anyone he hasn’t been able to dx as Aspergers.
Most of the people I know IRL or online who have official (as opposed to self diagnosed Aspergers, oh my it is so easy to dx oneself with this nebulous disorder) are not unpleasant people as this Al sounds to be. They have issues to be sure but what I saw in this thread was a/ RickJay’s description of unpleasant co-worker, b/ people saying oh well YK there’s this disorder I’ve read about and some unpleasant people I know who I’ve dx’ed myself and seeing as how this guy is unpleasant, he’s probably got it and you know he probably needs help and c/ I got upset ;). It was the line of thinking that all people with HFA/Aspergers were like Al. They’re not.
When you live on a daily basis with a disorder and people’s assumptions about spectrum disorders, there can be a certain degree of reactivity.
And honestly I do think it would be the action of a scumbucket to say to someone’s boss, hey has he got a spectrum disorder? Even if you mean well, it’s got far-reaching implications for that guy’s employment and health insurance. The workplace is not where psychological assessments should be done.
And RickJay, I’m glad you got a good outcome.
I’m not coming back to this thread, so Waverley you can just go for it, mate with your usual charm. Coosa if you wanna talk to me privately my email’s there.
I’m with the peeps who think Al has a form of Autisim, many people have autistic “disorders” that haven’t been diagnosed professionally because lay people [teachers/parents etc] regard them as odd or awkward… how many awkward kids turned out to be dyslexic?
I can’t offer a similar suggestion as to a dysfunction of a co-worker from hell that I had to deal with, she used to scream at me [by name] in public to explain why there was X amount of money missing from my till. I told her to prove it one night and that shut her up … the following night I found a bag containing the contents of my till hidden among my personal belongings. I made 47 complaints [over a 5 week period] about her behaviour to the Manager, and he laughed at me. I warned him that she was after his job, he laughed at that too. You know what happened? She got promoted to Manager, I left and the “Manager” lost his job … he’s not ucking laughing at me now is he, pick