Illegitimi non carborundum

I have this mock-Latin phrase taped to my monitor at work.

Illegitimi non carborundum

Don’t let the bastards grind you down.

My Father-in-law reminded me of this phrase a few weeks ago when work had just redone the schedule thereby fucking up my summer (again – 2 years in a row now).  He claimed it was a phrase educators use – but it is a phrase several have used.

A general in WWII, it was part of the unofficial Harvard ‘fight song’, it was part of a student crest at the school of Theology at Princeton, it has shown up in various ways in politics.  I don’t think it can belong to one group or another.

Yesterday, about an hour into my work, I was done.  I had gotten my fill of bullshit, stupid, and other non-productive crap that I can think of.  I was getting it from above me, below me, and across from me in the organizational chart.

To quote Jayne from Serenity:

“Mal, she is starting to damage my calm!”

Yeah, calm was out the window – kill them and bury the bodies was in full effect.  That really did seem like the logical and sensible way of dealing with this group of people.  Either that or run like hell before I catch the crazy.

Daddy gave me some love and positive energy which helped me.  I finally put on my head phones – started sending out energy that said people should stay the fuck away from me – and tried to tackle some things that did not require direct people interaction.

I went to get coffee in the early afternoon and ran into my favorite cohorts – brothers who both work here and who I work with directly.  I love these guys because they have common sense. They have snark. They have work ethic – and at 23 and 25 – they have more of a bullshit detector than most of the people who have been in the workforce for 20 years.

“You’re having a shitty day, aren’t you?” one of them asked as soon as the elevator doors closed.

“Let me be snarky for a moment,” they both chuckled as I continued, “If certain things are brought up to me again, I will throw my coffee mug at someone – and I played college softball so it will hit them – hard – in the head.  Why the fuck does this place have to fixate on the stupid??”

After they stopped laughing, one smiled and said “Why do you think we’re going out for coffee too – it is definitely running rampant today. But don’t worry – they will wonder later why shit isn’t getting done. Then we can roll our eyes.”

We stepped outside and wondered aloud why were inside on a bonus spring day before the rain returned, then we spoke of other things.  Always a pleasant feeling when you find you are not alone.

Later, I spoke with another cohort who pointed out that one of my main sources of annoyance – my direct boss – is someone no one likes or trust – and really has no place which is why he stomps on me.  He’s trying to use me to get a leg up, she commented, but everyone knows the truth – it’s all me.  Funny how some voices of sanity will keep those bastards from grinding me down.

Though, going home, doing a 25-min workout that left me having to stop to wipe the sweat from my eyes – well, that helped too – even if today I’m feeling it.  I don’t care.  Sometimes I have to take care of me.

And fuck the idiots.

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