There's an old, white haired, 5-foot-tall, Italian-looking janitor who works in my
office building. I see him at least a few times a week. He keeps about the same schedule as I do so most times I see him coming or going from the
loading dock at the start or end of the day.
I've said good morning to him a few times. I've said
Hi when I've seen him in the hall. He's never said anything back to me. Nothing. Not ever.
And it's not like he doesn't recognize me. A couple weeks ago we both got into the
freight elevator from the loading dock and he pushed his button and then pushed 6 for me. He knows I work on the 6th floor. He remembers me.
I just assumed that maybe he didn't speak
English. Or maybe he's got a speech impediment or a thick accent and doesn't like to talk.
Maybe when he was a kid he used to live on the street in some
eastern European country and one time he got in a knife fight with some other street kids over a bag of dinner rolls they found in the gutter and even though he won the fight he still got stabbed in the throat and now he can't talk so he came to
Canada to find a better life and raise his kids in a place where they don't have knife fights in the streets over a bag of bread.
Anyhow, none of that's true. He's just snubbing me for some reason. See, the other day I got on the elevator around 4pm and he was already in there with
the other janitor guy and they were both gabbing away, having a bit of a laugh too.
The guy can talk! He spoke English just fine. He doesn't even have a thick accent or a speech impediment. There was no knife fight injury. No bag of dinner rolls. He's just being rude.
Next time I see that guy I'm going to look right at him and with a clear voice that he can't pretend not to hear I'm going to say "Hello". And then I'm going to keep looking at him until he says something back. And if he just stands there and says nothing I'm just going to keep on looking right at him, waiting for my answer.
And if he does say something back to me I'm going to yell "
HA!" and point my finger right at his face. Then I'll turn away from him never speak to him again. Rude little
janitor man.