2004-04-21 - 2:11 p.m.

My economics teacher in high school was also the baseball coach. (Of course.) He had a lot of coach-like sayings, but I really liked this one: When someone would get angry or out of line in his classroom, he used to stop and ask them, "Why do you have hate in your heart?" To this day, I think of that phrase whenever I see someone being a peevish, joyless, angry, jerk of a human being.

I want to say that to the Bitchfest Art Director at my work today, but she�s such a trainwreck of a person, she wouldn�t understand the question. She�s a control freak who often spirals out of control. She�s my pal Brandis�s boss. Since Brandis and I are famous friends, we sometimes chat when the work pace slows. Yesterday, when Brandis and I were comparing/contrasting odd colorations and features of one another�s legs, Bitchfest Art Director marched over to my senior editor and barked, "Your staff is preventing my staff from working! Please tell your staff to stay away from Brandis so that she can be a more efficient robot and produce more Wal*Mart-bound crappy paper products." (Or something like that.) So, my senior editor bumbled on into my cubicle and whispered the command that I am no longer allowed to chat with Brandis. Hooray! We�re treated like children!

Now I�m the one with hate in the heart. It�s funny how miserable people manage to make everyone else around them miserable. Well, it�s not really all that funny.

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