The One Exception: Chapter 13 'The Cookie Monster'

It was a normal day, or so I thought. I saw one of friendly sales ladies in the parking lot, and we chatted about business related stuff. After a few minutes, we both went back to our respective offices. In less than 5 minutes, I had to head back over there to speak with the sales people about a customer service issue, and when I opened the door, it was like I entered a war zone. The sales person I was just speaking with was livid, screaming and telling the 'one exception' in no uncertain terms that she's not a dog, and is not to be disrespected!

At this point, it's probably a good idea to insert some background, and properly set the stage for what I walked into...
Earlier that same day, the 'one exception' approached 2 of the sales ladies with a pack of cookies, offering one of them a cookie, but not the other. The other sales lady asked if it was OK to have a cookie, but there was no response. She elected to take the cookie anyway since she had already touched it.

This sales lady related that she immediately felt uncomfortable about how she acquired the cookie. While she was mulling this over in her mind, the sales lady who received a cookie advised that the 'one exception' appeared to be very upset about her taking the cookie. This confirmed what she was feeling so she left the office and acquired an entire pack of the very same cookies in an effort to make amends to the 'one exception'. At this point is where I ran into & was conversing with the 'incident' sales lady.

Upon splitting off from the 'incident' sales lady & heading back to my office, the 'one exception' silently stalked past. I've often wondered if that chance encounter was a contributing factor to what occurred next... perhaps the 'one exception' thought that we were talking about her & was already predisposed to becoming angry because of an imagined slight that never occurred. I'm not a medical professional, yet I am convinced that the 'one exception' is both willful & mentally unstable.

During the altercation, the 'one exception' brushed up against the 'incident' sales lady... a brilliant, if highly deceitful gambit designed to instigate/escalate the situation to physical combat... thus turning the tables, in an effort to turn the 'one exception’ into the victim. Fortunately, the 'incident' sales lady saw through the gambit & immediately reassessed her instinctive response and sat at her desk. I myself wonder if I would have caught such a gambit... lesson learned.

The ‘one exception’, not to be denied, threw the proffered pack of cookies onto the ‘incident' sales lady’s desk. This is where I walked in and had to physically stop the ‘incident’ sales lady. I escorted her out the door, into the parking lot, calmed her down and told her she was very lucky I separated her from the fracas before it became physical. She admitted that she was about to beat the crap out of the ‘one exception’ and thanked me for stopping her.

The last thing she wants is to give ‘that miserable woman’ the upper hand. At this point, after a short discussion, she decided to contact her boss, write an incident report, and refer the incident in a complaint to Human Resources.

Of course, the ‘one exception’ remains to this day employed by the company and the 'incident' sales lady has since transferred to another branch of this corporation.

Unless I quit or transfer, I am trapped in this alternate reality.