Nothing New

Gioconda and I are really different.

Its not just that nothing bugs her and everything bugs me, it's not just that she is fed by being around other people and I feel utterly and completely drained by even being in the same room as other humans....even if no one is talking to me...

I am very sensitive to any subtle, or not so subtle, rude behavior on the part of others. Gioconda has no perception of any person at any time being unpleasant to her.

"Ok, you know that salesperson (valet, waitress, fill in the blank) was just fucked up to you, right?" I say about five times a month.

"I didn't get that," she'll always respond.

Sometimes people are so completely mean to her I can't help but wonder, really, what would it take for her to notice?

On the girls birthday we took a trip up north and went to the San Francisco zoo. Although we had a terrific time, it was our experience the workers at the San Francisco zoo are particularly unpleasant. I have worked in the tourism industry myself, and I am fully aware working with the public is no picnic.

So here's the solution to that...get another job...go to law school if you don't want to deal whoever decides to drag themselves and their horrible offspring to Disneyland on any summer day when the temperature exceeds 100 and there is a two hour line to ride on Its a Small World...

Since I am cynical and typically expect the worse, the fact the workers at the zoo were clearly not thrilled to have us visit didn't phase me. Gioconda found it shocking.

"Everyone here is so unfriendly," she blurted out after being scolded by the lady selling tickets to the train ride as she was lining up on the right instead of the left.

"How could I possibly know where she wanted me to stand ?," she said almost ten full minutes after the interaction.

Guilty confession, it made me smile a little bit inside.

Gioconda and I are really different, I hold onto everything for a really long time, she holds onto nothing for no time at all. Not only did Gioconda notice people were rude, she held onto it for at least 15 minutes.

It didn't last. We went to the zoo back in January, it is now April and in that time there has been dozens of smirks, eye rolling, curt and abrupt responses to questions- and she hasn't noticed.

A few days ago we went to an event which was really crowded. I asked the host at a restaurant in the area how long the wait would be and he snorted" An hour to an hour and 1/2." And then he shook his head disapprovingly.

I wanted to punch him in the head.

I have considered the possibility, which is really much more like a probability, Gioconda may not have noticed the tone, or the slight head shake which was actually what put me over the edge.

It was last Tuesday and I could still sock the pompous dick in his pie hole.