Break

The reason I really hate that Evil Oil Empire I worked for, is because of a cardinal.

Not an athlete, not a religious office holder, but an actual bird.

One day, I was at lunch. Lunch at this company was NOT like lunch at other companies. We had a cafeteria with great food, but no one actually ate in the cafeteria area unless they were sitting with co-workers, discussing some aspect of work or other--basically water-cooler talk, except water-cooler talk wasn't really allowed, so we had to go to lunch (which should technically be our own time) to discuss work in a more casual atmosphere. Because work was NEVER casual at this place.

Mostly we had take-out from the cafeteria. Then we ate at our desks and answered the phone when it rang, on our own time, because it would be unseemly not to.

I, however, would actually take a break on my lunch break. I would smoke. There were only about three of us, if who I saw while smoking was any evidence. So really there were probably about 20.

On that day I had eaten my take-out cafeteria food at my desk, gone downstairs to smoke, was on my way back to my desk, and I still had about 20 minutes left of lunch to go. So I was walking down this hall on the [info deleted] floor, looking out over the lovely scenery that's kind of a wildlife preserve. I guess that's how the company made up for its raping of the rest of the planet; we may have ruined YOUR corner of the globe, but look! We left this 120 acres next to our corporate headquarters in the city of [info deleted] pristine! We're not ALL bad! At lease WE have wildlife to look at!

Not in a hurry, I was looking out the window and saw a female cardinal. Where I grew up, we didn't have cardinals, and I haven't had a lot of time to sit around looking for them since I moved here, so I was entranced. She flitted along, from ledge to branch and back, moving slowly along in the direction I eventually wanted to go. It was really cool.

I was standing there looking out the window, and took a glance to my left, at the wall in between the windows.

There was a camera in it. One of those dinky little things you can get at the Spy Store. Nothing you'd notice unless you stopped and looked.

What did I do? I smiled into it. Waved at it, and said 'Hi' to the shift security manager, by name.

It really pissed me off. I knew that there were cameras everywhere, and that security could trace my movements everywhere in the building.

But that moment, I was just bird watching. And enjoying it. And they were spying on me. Oh, bully for them.

Assholes.

I was so totally in the wrong job.