Monday 28 January 2008

Eric’s Freaky Friday

On Friday Eric was given special duties in the print-room to help out another department with a backlog. The print-room is manned by an odd character, who writes CDs and DVDs most of the day for sending out to clients. The work Eric was doing meant that he was sitting next to him for the day, at the end of which Eric came out quite traumatised. Here is the gist of their conversation:
Carl: “Are you going to talk to me today?”
Eric: “Probably. Why wouldn’t I?”
Carl: “Well you don’t normally.”
Eric: “I’m hardly ever in here. Plus I’m a very quiet chap anyway. I normally keep my head down and just do my work.”
Carl: “You’re quite chatty to everyone else, but not to me.”

There is a radio in the print-room, which they have on fairly quietly while they work. The story about Heath Ledger dying comes on the news:
Eric: “That’s sad.”
Carl: “That Brokeback Mountain film wrecked his career.”
Eric: “I don’t think so. It won loads of awards. He’s done a few good films since that.”
Carl: “Did you ever see it?”
Eric: “No. It’s not my kind of film. I’m not into watching men kissing.”
Carl: “It’s about gay cowboys riding horses and kissing. I watched it to a point, then had to switch it off.”
Eric: “...Women kissing, now that’s natural.”
Carl: “I don’t like that either. I prefer women fighting.”
Eric: “What?...Wrestling in mud you mean?”
Carl: “No, just normal fighting.”

There is a bit of a silence for a while, then Carl’s phone goes. Apparently it’s his girlfriend. He tells her he’s got a friend in the print-room with him today, and at one stage he asks Eric to talk to her. He says “hello”, then Carl explains who he is. When he’s finished he puts the phone down and tells Eric that she’s tired.

Eric: “Why is she tired?”
Carl: “She didn’t get to bed until 4.00a.m. this morning.”
Eric: “That would make you tired. Why did she stay up so late?”
Carl: “No, she works till that late.”

Eric doesn’t ask what she worked as.
She rings back later in the day, and Carl has a complete conversation with her just saying “Why?” in various tones of voice. Later that afternoon he tells Eric that he used to do bodybuilding with his brother. They used to enter shows, oil eachother up then pose on stage to Gary Glitter songs like “Do you wanna be in my gang.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You shouldn't have to work with wierdos like that. Let's hope Eric doesn't have to work with him for too much longer.

Anonymous said...

What an oddball bunch.

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