On the nature of relationships with your co-workers.

It strikes me as very odd, the way I interact with people I work with. I'm lucky enough to work a variety of jobs, many on a freelance basis, but it's obvious that every place has its own set of interactions within the microcosm that is the institution.

Actors are great to work with, when they're not the "I'm so great you should get on the floor and worship me" type. They are generous people to be around, and are generally well-read and aware of the world around them.

Techies, i.e. those with technical expertise who make the world go round, are also amazing people, so long as you don't treat them as subordinates or look down on them because they do the menial but necessary tasks.

Custodial staff are by far the best of the lot. Though they can often be world-weary and constantly depressed, they are some of the nicest human beings you can ever hope to meet. Oh, and in case you're wondering why they grumble so much? it's becase others are such arseholes to them! From personal experience, if you're nice to people, they will be nice to you. Custodial staff are not slaves. They are not meant to be going around fetching you tea and cigarettes. I've got a pair of legs, dammit! I can go across the road for some food.

And why should they handle all the lifting on their own? I'm a big lad, stronger than average, and I can help out, so I do. Yet others just stand there and laugh when I squat to lift a heavy box. And why? Because I'm performing a menial task? Can the Happy McLaughy do that? NO!

Honestly... give me custodial staf over most other people every day. True, they often aren't that great for conversations about Sartre and physics, but they have a wealth of knowledge, life, and anecdotes that you'll never hear elsewhere. And as a general rule, they aren't stuck up wankers who look down on others, simply because there's no one for them to look down upon. Being branded as the lowest in institutional hierarchy makes them incredibly nice people, and perhaps in spite of the lack of regard others give them, they make the finest examples of humanity in most places. Here's to you, folks!

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Another matter that's been on my mind since morning is the fact that many people I work with are just lazy cunts. I get in to the theatre every morning, start readying the set, setting props, checking them, and doing the morning routine of getting shit ready for the plays. For all intents and purposes, I am the stage manager. But why is it my responsibility? Because nobody else will do it. My immediate superior is really useless, in every sense of the word. I do part-time hours, half a day, and I get more done in two hours than he tends to do in a week. He doesn't even WANT to do anything. And that's the problem with the "old guard" at this place: they don't want to make an effort.

We had a malfunctioning prop, so I took it in to the tech department to get it fixed. Lo and behold, there he was, having breakfast with the Old Guard, and gladly told me that he'd already explained the nature of the problem to the guy who would fix it.

Very helpful. Thanks mate. Don't suppose you could've bothered taking the damn thing in to be fixed in the first place because you're the one complaining about it in the first place, you tosser?

But I'm not bitter. On the contrary. It's nice to know that I can say I earn my keep here. True, I don't do that much work, but that's because there isn't often any work to be done. Still, I go around other departments asking if I can help with anything. Hell...I've brought in a crap load of work for the centre and helped raise its profile, and I've been here less than six months. He's been here a good eight years, and he complains about how difficult it is to adapt a childrens' story into a play. Boo-frickity-hoo! It's the only work I've seen him do since I got here!

Ok, rant over, I rock, sod the rest. My conscience is clean.