All day, My Manager has been popping in and out of my office for no particular reason. This morning, he came back from his doctor’s appointment, and bowed to greet me, as if he were Japanese, and began speaking with an Asian accent. I was very confused until I realized his “doctor’s” appointment was actually acupuncture. After lunch these incidents continued. My Manager would stand in my doorway, and not speak until I looked up from my computer. Most of the time there was no legitimate purpose for him popping over.

Most recently, he came over to tell me he watched the clip of his friend’s son on the new show The Voice at least three more times (which we HAD to watch together yesterday). He continued to talk about how it gets better and better each time, and that the kid went to his high school, a fancy prep school in Connecticut…

My Manager: Yeah, when I decided to go to UCONN, my guidance counselor was disappointed I didn’t go somewhere like Yale or Brown. But then I saw the kinds of kids that went there and they all died their hair funny colors and pierced just about everything. I guess that’s what you do when you are smart.

He paused for a second. Thinking about his next line.

My Manager: But I guess you don’t see much of that down here. Kids don’t do that kind of stuff here at the University of Phoenix.

(This is his common insult to me, attempting to equate my college, The University of South Carolina, with a fake online college.)

Instead of reacting, I gave him the usual pity laugh and just looked at him.

My Manager: There you go again. I keep taking jabs at you, trying to get you all fired up, and you don’t bite. You just sit there quietly. It’s scary really. You’re like China. I can’t tell what you are thinking, or when you will strike back, or how you will take revenge, but I know when you do it will be bad. But for now, you just sit back quietly. You just watch and wait for everyone else to self-destruct. Scary. Intimidating.