maya, my intoxication | secret
maya, my intoxication | secret lullaby surrounds my soul
We had a …”visitor” this morning. This strangely adorable Chinese woman came into our office today, wearing khaki overalls, a sweatshirt, and sneakers. Her hair was really short and spiky, her skin was bad, and she had this huge grin on her face for no apparent reason. She was carrying a bottle of water and her left front pocket was bulging with something.
She comes in and says “My name is name withheld, I am sorry that I have no identification, I just want to make a point, this is only water in here, my pocket is full of papers I got from the bathroom, can I have a card, I need a business card.” This entire time, I am in the middle of some fairly detailed discussion with one of the company’s vendors about what may be a missing invoice. The A/R person I’m speaking with is growing frustrated, because she can hardly hear me over name withheld’s voice, and name withheld is pacing around the office, still talking, acting frustrated that I am not speaking with her. I manage to tell the A/R person that she should fax me another copy of the invoice, and I am finally off the phone. I give name withheld a business card, and she immediately says “Oh, are you name on business card?” I tell her that I am not, and she wants to know what my name is, and how to spell it, and what the name is of the person in charge of the office. I am wondering what the hell is going on.
Then, she looks at the huge poster inside the door, which says INITIALS OF COMPANY WITHHELD and name of company withheld. She asks what INITIALS OF COMPANY WITHHELD stand for, and I tell her. She giggles frantically for awhile. Then, she says “My name is name withheld, but I do not have any identification, this is just water, can I speak with boss’s name withheld please, I do not have a point, can I have some paper to write him a note please, I would like to talk about the incident at name of copying company withheld, and you can please tell him that I am here to speak with him, but if he does not have time that is fine, I do not have a point.” At this point, I realize that ‘point’ is actually ‘appointment’. I am only slightly less confused.
I give her a pad of paper, and she writes a note, and yells after me down the hallway (even as I am standing in the doorway speaking to the person she wants to see) that if he doesn’t want to talk to her it’s fine, she doesn’t have an appointment, if he would like to “make [her] call [him] back, that is also okay as well. I don’t have a point, and tell him I have no arms!”
He invites her into his office, but before she will come in, she says “I would like to speak with you, but first I want to write this down, it touches me, I am a writer, do you mind?” She sits in the entryway chairs and copies down what is written on the poster on the wall:
MISSION STATEMENT
INITIALS OF COMPANY NAME WITHHELD — SEATTLE
To be the Northwest’s leading provider of real estate services, recognized for its outstanding people, commitment to excellence, and delivery of exceptional results to customers.
Integrity
Teamwork
Customer Service
Community
NAME OF COMPANY WITHHELD
Finally, she finishes and goes into his office. She is there for a long time, speaking animatedly. At one point, my boss laughs - that loud, hearty middle aged man laugh. For awhile, there is (relative) silence. Meanwhile, I am pondering: we are the only people in the office. If the bump in her pocket is a gun (and not the paper towels she swore she stole from the bathroom) what the hell would I do? Would I have time to get to my walkie-talkie and call security? I wonder if the “water” is the only thing she’s had to drink today. At this point, I hear her sobbing in his office, still talking LOUDLY, and I begin to panic. Then, for awhile, I hear nothing.
When she comes out, she is grinning broadly and holding my boss’s card, as well as the TWO she insisted I give her earlier. She trots past me, saying “Goodbye, LADY!”, and slams out the door. I sit there for a moment, dazed, at which point I hear this exhausted-sounding laughter from my boss, who is sitting alone in his office. He comes out and says “I know you tried to clue me in that she was a little… [pause] … but I just didn’t catch it. She had cards from most of our tenants, she’s been wandering the building trying to find someone to talk to.”
Apparently, she was in the other part of our building - which is really two buildings that are sort of attached, so I can see why she might have been confused. She was using a computer at name of copy company withheld and put her head down to take a nap, and they kicked her out. She was convinced they did it because she was Asian, and she wanted to make a complaint about it. She was so upset about it that she cried in front of my boss, even after he told her that he had nothing to do with it. She kept on telling her story as if she hadn’t even heard him. And he - because he is an incredibly kind-hearted, gentle man, kept talking to her. I really respect that. I don’t know what I would have done.