One Step Over The Line, Sweet Jesus...

Well, if you click on the title, you can get all necessary background information that will assist you in understanding this entry. This should also include link backs so further history can be traced.

Today, on this birthday eve of mine, a line was crossed and things are indeed over with DD. (For those who said it should have been over before, I salute you...and you were right.)

The day started out OK...my boss brought me flowers, and one of my other bosses brought me a balloon and a piece of cake for the ol' birthday. Not a bad start.

(BTW, if you didn't catch that, tomorrow's my birthday which really means by work standards, TODAY'S my birthday. Didn't know if that was made clear or not...)

I dropped my usual line to DD, "good morning", etc.

Then I noticed a funky smell of sewer gas in the air, and since DD's sniffer is vastly superior to mine, I went to his cube to ask if I was having an olfactory hallucination.

He was sitting in his cube with his back to me, and I knocked on his cube...

He whirled around and hissed, "Get the f**k out of my cube!" His whole face - from eyes on down - was scowling and angry. It scared me, but I swallowed it back.

I was trying to calm him down and get him to talk rationally...he stood up, growled "Shut up" at me, and then tapped my lips (not lightly) with his first two fingers, and hissed "Shut up" again.

I was shocked. Never, in all the months I've gotten to know him, has he ever laid a hand on me in an angry way. Stupid me, I kept pleading, "What's going on? Let's talk...come on!" He finally packed up his belongings and stormed out of his cubicle, and I presumed he went home.

I was very afraid...I didn't know what was going on, and I thought he was on the stuff again. After he stormed out, I went to his supervisor (the same one I talked to a few days ago) and told her what happened. She said she'd talk to DD's contracting manager about it.

Ten minutes later, DD e-mailed me that he was sorry, and he wanted to talk. So we talked. Turns out his anger had nothing to do with me at all, and he was just angry about his life, and how he hadn't accomplished what he wanted, etc. I told him I understood, but that life wasn't fair and this is how it is. I did also tell him to NEVER lay his hands like that on me again. EVER. He didn't say anything in response to that, and we went our separate ways.

About ten minutes after that, DD's project boss came to me and told me that she told DD I had talked to her and he was going to be reported to the contracting company for this. DD e-mailed me this, and I told him I was sorry but I had to say something.

Then he came by my desk and growled, "I almost lost my job because of you, " then flipped me the bird.

I wrote him a 2-word e-mail..."We're done".

He responded, "Good".

So that's that.

So why do I still want to cry my eyes out? Because I'm scared for him and I DON'T want him to lose his job. I didn't want anything to happen to him, but something in me just went POP and I saw the line being crossed.

Happy f*****g birthday.