I think I was almost
fired today.
All I did was simply wish our secretary a Merry Christmas... and she absolutely freaked. She stared at me for a second and said, "What?" in this voice that said, "How dare you speak that babble to me!"
She got up from behind her desk and stormed over to me, her red-dyed hair looking like flames from the Devil, Himself. She poked a fat finger at my chest and told me if I ever uttered those words towards her again, she would file a harassment suit against me and my ass would be out on the street...
I found it kind of amusing that this normally gentle Jewish yenta would blow up over an attempt to spread a little joy for the holidays. Would it have really been that difficult to politely correct my mistake? I mean, after all, its not like my intent was to get her panties in a twist or make that vein on her forehead stand out. I'm not the kind of person.
Its become rapidly apparent to me, talking with my fellow co-workers about my encounter, that some people are so into their religion, that they will almost consider it a personal attack against them if you say something that goes against their belief. (including the spelling of their holidays)
I respect the fact that people have religions and they believe in them. What I don't respect are people that have religions and are so closed-minded, that any utter of another belief or religion will set them off. Those people need to chill the hell out.
Call me crazy, but I doubt their chosen god would be very happy with them going off on someone else with opposing views...
Afternote: Let it be known to all who read this from now on, that I am, myself, an
atheist and don't celebrate
Christmas. I do, however, like to spread the occasional
holiday cheer because its something that tends to make people feel
good. I wasn't bashing any religion in this node.... so
stop /msg'ing me already!
Would you believe that after I came back to my desk, an hour after I wrote this node, five messages from angry Jews were waiting for me?