Life goes on.

Wow.

My office is in a pretty central location here and therefore, I hear a lot (some of which I should hear and some of which I probably should not). Add to this the fact that I am a compulsive eavesdropper - meaning I don't do it on purpose...it's just, if I can hear something, I listen. And, I have great hearing.

Yesterday, in the front office stood 4 of my coworkers (including the Director of Sales & HR, Manufacturing Manager and one each from Packaging and Purchasing) chatting about a bagging machine which had just been demonstrated to us by a vendor. We are looking into this machine because our ONE Packaging person simply does not have enough time to package everything by herself, resulting in the rest of us having to go back there during the week and help her. One time consuming part is bone screws, they must be individually bagged and labeled and we do thousands of them...this is why they were looking at the bagging machine.

Well, Purchasing (aka bitch-face as I have called her in my blog in the past) says, "I want a Corky! You know, Life Goes On, Corky? We can get one to do the simple stuff for minimum wage." This is followed by the Manufacturing Manager saying, "Seriously, all the little stupid - sorry - easy jobs like bagging parts or labeling would be perfect for someone like that!". And then, they all stand around and discuss what a good idea it is to get "A CORKY".

If you know me, you know I am really none too concerned with political correctness, but come on now. That crosses the line, no? If you want to use derogatory terms against someone for something they choose to do, I really don't mind, say what you want. I'm just amazed that none of them thought there was anything wrong with calling someone with Down's Syndrome "a Corky". Is there any difference between that and a racial slur?

I'm looking forward to getting out of the office today. I have to drive to Boxborough to pick up a machine from EMC that we're going to be repairing. It's a nice hour and a half drive each way! Unfortunately, I've been waiting to go since Monday! Today I tried to call and schedule the pickup but I had to leave a voice mail...please call me back Mr. EMC Man.