You may recall the rift between Hick and a denizen of the place where he used to go every day for lunch. Lately, he's been making it there a couple times a week. Also, he works upstairs now! He doesn't have to be on-site for any specific hours. Just be available to take care of any problems, and collect the rent every month.
Monday evening, Hick had some news.
"Denizen can't work at the Senior Center anymore! The gal in charge said she had to let her go. Told her she couldn't do bingo, and couldn't sit up front answering the phone. The GiC said there were too many complaints. That she was in a craft store over the weekend, and a couple came up to her and said they missed having lunch at the Senior Center, but they won't come back if Denizen is there."
"Was she mean to them?"
"Apparently. GiC had a talk with Denizen, and said there were just too many complaints. She's tried to tell her before, but Denizen only changes when GiC is around. That's why she thought Denizen was doing better. But she's been getting more complaints. So she had to let her go."
"Is Denizan paid for working there?"
"No. She's a volunteer. But she got a job recently as a hostess at a restaurant over in Bill-Paying Town. Of all the people to be a hostess! I asked GiC if Denizen blamed me. And she said no, in fact she blamed everybody else but me!"
"Can she still eat lunch there?"
"Yeah. She just can't work. I doubt she'll ever come back. Probably her and her husband will quit coming."
Welp! Tuesday, Hick said Denizen had been at the Senior Center eating lunch.
"Was she nice to you?"
"No! She was nice to everybody else but me. All smiley and friendly."
"What does her husband do?"
"He actually works there. But she's not allowed back in the kitchen anymore. So she can't go back there and talk to him or anybody."
"Well. This is sad. You know she loved doing that stuff. It's part of who she is. She will miss it a lot. It makes me sad."
"Ain't no reason to feel sorry for her. She brought it on herself, being a busybody. She didn't have to gossip about people, or be mean to them."
"Still. I feel bad for her."
Not Hick. Not a bit. Somehow, he's still in Denizen's doghouse.
I agree with Hick! She brought it on herself. My office building attached to a hospital, they of course have volunteers throughout. One volunteer had a complaint lodged against them and they were spoken to by their manager/higher up yesterday. They can be quite rude/ignorant. If they are asked to leave, I will feel sad but I will also agree with Hick - your job is to be respectful and nice, if you cannot even do that, stay home.
ReplyDeleteYes, nobody should feel uncomfortable because of how the volunteer staff treats them. After being made aware of how such behavior is unacceptable, and still not changing, a staffer absolutely needs to be let go. Still, I feel bad that this may be all they have, and they might be crushed by the rejection.
DeleteWe're folks of a certain age now. If we cannot even be nice and it's something that is all we have, what does that say, you know? Denizen was warned and has paid the price unfortunately :(
DeleteI find it weird that Denizen blamed everyone BUT Hick, then when she had lunch there she was smiley and friendly with everyone BUT Hick.
ReplyDeleteI know! It has never made sense, the way she treats him now. They used to be good friends, playing bingo every week.
DeleteI have been trying to comment on this blog for two days! No idea what is wrong with Blogger. It is like the world has gone crazy!!
ReplyDeleteLast week I couldn't even reply to a comment! Now I have trouble typing a post, because the cursor jumps around before I even complete a line. Or clears out everything I've just typed. Good thing there's that "back" button!
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