Well, things are definately coming apart.

Theres this dude who started this night shift thing when I did, im not sure what department he originally came from, but hes "one of us" now. Anyway, they recently brought in a couple new managers, and one of them developed a problem with the guy.

Frankly im not sure what its about and I really don't care. I have no opinion on his work ethic, and if you've been keeping up then you know that even if I did have opinion, I don't exactly have the moral superiority to give it. I am Emperor lazy of get-out-of-work land. But whatever the case, the new manager recently did something that sort of brought the whole thing to my apathy-laden attention: she called security on the guy.

Apparently they got into an argument, which I was not privy to, concerning something I have no idea about. In any case, she felt that he was "becoming violent" and called security, which arrived shortly after at my door, waiting for me to let them in.

Mind you, nobody told ME about security coming, and theres proceedure that has to be followed when somebody unexpected shows up. This really cuts back on my slack time, and irritates me.

I let the guy in, we go through the whole identity verification bit, and he tells me that apparently we're having problems with one of our employees.

Well its news to me, I tell the guy. I page my manager, because I can guess who called security, and im hoping my manager can diffuse this whole thing before it spirals out of control and the above mentioned employee gets fired.

Because, as an aside, i've learned something from the months i've worked here, and the years of working in a myriad of other places: Once you are labeled as a "problem," nothing on this earth will remove that label. I sort of know the dude, and I can tell you that he's a very laid back kinda guy, I have a feeling that he's one of those people who sort of drifts through life, not really impacting anywhere. But this manager has decided that something he did upset her, and that is now burned onto her brain, misconception or not.

So I try to head it off before it becomes something out of control. My manager shows up, but unfortunately on her heals like a yippie dog is the other manager, who immediately turns on me. "Why did you call [my manager] up here? Im the one that called for security!"

"well," I reply, "Since nobody told me anything about it, I called the first person on my list. If you had told me to expect them and to call you when they show up, then I would have."

Which isn't true. I knew from previous stories about the new manager that she was going to be a problem. See how that works? I don't even know the new manager, but i've already formed that opinion. Same thing, 'cept the other side.

Anyway, they stand there for a while and talk about it, which is great for me since that means I get to be in on what's going on, and I can let the employee know what's going on later. I kick the Ipod off, and leave the buds in my ears, which is the best way I have found so far for listening in on other people talking.

The security guy asks if she needs the employee escorted out of the building, which is some serious shit. That means that he threatened her in some way, or she felt she was being threatened, anyway. She says no, that there's no need now, and they head off towards the nearest desk (unfortunately too far away for me to hear any details) to fill out a report. Pretty standard stuff.

Later, after everything is settled down, I catch the employee and let him know what's going on. He gets completely freaked out. "what? I didn't say anything to her at all!" I nod. Who knows if that's true or not. Probably its a case of her coming from a place where everyone wears a suit, and not being used to being yelled at.

I give him my advice, which is to be completely calm from this point forward, and to call the union as soon as possible. He nods, still looking a little confused, and walks off.

The fact is, this building is the focus for a lot of employment entropy right now. People are completely dazed, walking around like zombies and nobody wants to think about the future. Tempers are very very short. Its not fair to the new managers they brought in, but guess what, get a damn helmet. None of us are crazy about it either. There is going to be yelling. Hell, there was yelling in this place before we found out about the bid being lost. This is the wild west of the IRS.

They announced today that my manager was leaving also. Heading off to another job, being transferred out of our dying building to some place where they had a job for her. Im happy she's got a job lined up (she's perm, so she just gets transferred when shit like this happens) but at the same time, it sorta sucks, because she was really a big part of keeping everyone calm.