The Snow Pea Arranger
Yesterday in the cafeteria at the salad bar, there was an interesting man in front of me. He was nattily dressed wearing a blue blazer in an office casual environment. His grey-streaked hair slicked back to little curls at the nape.
His salad plate was decorated artfully, I noticed immediately, with an array of snow peas arranged pointing outward on the rim of the beige plate, looking like the rays of the sun. Lettuce, carrots, and mushrooms were centered perfectly within the border of snow peas. I immediately wondered where he had picked up such a beautifully presented salad since I didn’t see any others available in the cafeteria. Then it hit me. This man had taken the snow pea salad from the bar and had arranged the snow peas and other items himself while others waited their turn in the queue.
What the heck? This worker bee felt that plate presentation was so important that he held up the line while he artfully arranged his salad on his plate. Unfuckingbelievable. He finally moved over a little bit so that I could begin getting my salad from the bar. Still he worked to deftly sprinkle his sunflower seeds right over the middle and then drizzle his dressing just so, over the beautiful mesclun leaves.
I grew increasingly annoyed with this man. It’s a fucking salad from the Merck cafeteria! I wanted to scream at him.
I was so very tempted to lean over and whisper to him, “You know, they have medication for your problem.” But that would have been uncharitable.
For the remainder of the day, I found myself wondering about this man’s life. How are his shirts arranged? Is his house spotless? And of course the obvious question, how could anyone live with someone with such incredible OCD?
Hope I see him again at lunch time. I want to see what he does with his sandwich.
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So, I see you met the CEO of Merck. Just kidding!
Annoying, but sad also. I had a boyfriend with OCD and it was really depressing to watch him struggle. His house was REALLY clean though. Sometimes, I wish he’d give my husband some lessons.
Well, you know what, I don’t care if someone is OCD. I, myself, have mild OCD. How nice that he arranged his salad in an aesthetically pleasing way–good for him. Beauty is wonderful, and the world needs more of it.
BUT DON’T HOLD UP THE FOOD LINE TO DO IT!!!!!!!
I mean, that is really one of my HOT buttons, when people go through a line slowly, knowing damned well that there are people behind them who need to get through the line too. It is the height of inconsideration. I cannot possibly understand why some people are like that. Out where I live, people do this at left turn lane lines. The first car in the line takes its sweet time when the light turns green, strolling and ambling through the intersection without a care in the world. The second car anxiously moves ahead trying to beat the light, and then, you guessed it, by the time the third car is moving into the intersection, the left turn traffic light has turned red. G-D, I HATE THOSE PEOPLE WHO DO THAT!!! Don’t they know that I, too, have somewhere that I have to be? I’m sure that in NYC or in Europe, they would get the hell honked out of them for that rude driving behavior, but here on the west coast, people just accept it meekly. Grrrrrr!
I’m a fast mover, fast talker, etc, and I can’t stand slow people. I suppose I should have been born a New Yorker (except that I’m not rude–I’m really polite).
Don’t mess with lunch…pick it up and move along!!!! Very funny, can’t wait to hear if you see him again!!
Chrissi