Are you Kidding Me? In America?

.......As this story unfolds, you will understand the title....trust me.

Have you ever known a person who seems to be mad at the world? Not only mad at the world, but who appears to have a distinct dislike for you? For no reason? Have you ever known anyone who seemed to have such a black heart that their physical beauty was non existent? Well, truthfully I can say I have never known anyone who falls into that category........until about five months ago.

To refresh your memory, I was transferred to a different facility with my job in August of 2008. Not only was the move stressful, but working with a large number of people I did not know was stressful as well. The dynamics of the work environment was very different than what I have been used to. The combination of the many different ethnic backgrounds, different work procedures, different management styles made for a very stressful few weeks in the beginning.

One thing I noticed in particular was a women who works in our unit. She is of foreign decent and from day one, she looked at me as if I was Satan's spawn. This women has such a hate for me, it is overwhelming at times. I catch her looking at me as if she could claw my eyes out. At first, I tried to overlook it, and thought maybe I was overreacting and seeing something that was not there. But I am here to tell you over the course of 5 months, no matter how much I'd smile, speak, acknowledge this women, she still had a very distinct dislike for me. It never changed.

Can you imagine speaking to someone, smiling, trying to be friendly day after day to have them look at you with such hate you can feel it radiate off their body? Can you imagine speaking and saying hello to have them abruptly turn and walk away as if the devil himself is sitting on your shoulders?

It is really hard for me to describe the depth of this women's hate, it is so monumental that I really can not put it to paper. In all of my.......... 40-something years, I have never encountered anyone like this women. It was a new experience for me and one that not only made me very uncomfortable but down right angry. After all....what the heck did I do in the first place?

I decided after a few weeks to take notice of her demeanour with other coworkers. She talked to other employees, smiled at other employees, seemed to interact well with other employees....just not me. She had no desire to even act like I existed. All I got out of her was hate filled glances and dirty looks. I was perplexed to say the least.

My conclusion was this person had just a hateful spirit about her and I could not change that. I was not going to waste any more time trying to befriend this women because I could see I was wasting my time. I knew in my heart I had not done one thing to her personally, just showed up for work. Me being there had nothing to do with her, personally. It was her problem not mine. Once I made up my mind to let that go, I did feel better about the situation because I refused to let her personality upset me any longer. However, from time to time, I would catch that hateful look every now and again and each time I said a silent prayer for God to Bless this women who was apparently in such misery.

I have always been a firm believer that anyone with a disposition like that must be a very miserable and unhappy person.......I never dreamed how right that one belief I had would prove to be......to be continued.