The One Exception: Chapter 10 'The Fridge Caper'

One day I walked into the Sales Office and detected that there was something different about it, but paid it no mind. Later, one of the sales people asked me if I noticed anything different? To which I said, yes, can't put my finger on it.

That's when I was told the story of the 'Fridge Caper'.

As has been related already, the 'One Exception' has a habit of interrupting when one is trying to get work done. Her expectation is for any given employee or manager to immediately stop what they are doing & service her needs which nearly always are of a crucially critical crisis in nature (to her)... a tempest in a teapot, if you will... and you dare not even hint at objecting, or there will be trouble. Her hysterics are tried & true, with no known defense since upper management dare not intervene on your behalf to redress if you report it. The inevitable question from the powers that be, being; why didn't you just help her? Been there, experienced that.

The sales people decided to close the doors to their office as a hint for no interruptions during their weekly conference calls. Since the fridge was in the Sales Office, that posed an unacceptable situation for the 'one exception' who after a few weeks of this came into the Sales Office & in a huff, dragged the little fridge to an area in the building where customers openly wait for service.

Now every one who had either witnessed or heard about this huffy little fridge relocation has either decided to poke fun at it, or refused to challenge the inappropriate way she went about it. I personally consider the fact that the 'one exception' continues to get a pass on antics such as this to be enabling unsatisfactory behavior; but I have been effectively neutered for my disapproval.

As a wild guess, poking fun at this situation, It seems that a cost-benefit analysis has been done and this situation is some sort of ‘rite of passage’ for this business unit and the cost is such that it must be cheaper to keep her. My logic doesn’t make that guess add up though.