Normally my blog entries are fun or just me complaining about different situations in my daily life but this one is a little different. Yesterday someone said something to me that was rather offensive. Allow me to explain.

A friend and co-worker of mine from my department were up on one of the other floors attending to our business. We walked by one of the departments and my co-worker started talking to the people there about the food that they had for lunch which was all spread out on the table. Someone at an adjacent cube jumped in and took the attention of my co-worker. Apparently this guy had won the football pool for the week and was pretty upset that he hadn't received his winnings yet. This was Wednesday morning around 11:30AM and the guy had officially won after the Monday night game so it was a day and a half that he had gone without his winnings. If you ask me, waiting a day and a half for $50 is not that big a deal.

This guy attacks my co-worker verbally about paying his share of the entry fee that goes to the winner of the football pool. Now when I say attacks, I really mean "attacks". This guy was swearing left and right. I found it rather humorous that he was acting in such a manner over a matter of a few dollars (each person was to pay $10 and my co-worker had already explained that he paid $6 of the $10) and as a result I laughed a little. His response to me was "Who the F$%& are you? Shut the F$%& up!" and then continued his verbal rant toward my co-worker. He explained to my co-worker that he needs to pay his debts. He used the analogy of a mortgage. Then he mentioned that something in regard to my co-worker having kids and that he would give his kids money or something in that regard which I don't really remember. The fact is he was being unnecessarily hostile toward my co-worker and myself. When I think back to it, I should have stood up for my co-worker and not let him talk to him like that.

I do my best to get my co-worker to end the "conversation" and go about our business on that floor. Once we were done, we were on our way back to take the elevator back to our floor and run into the same hostile "gentleman" that we encountered earlier. He continues his tirade. The guy that runs the office pool is with us and mentions to him that he is on his way to the bank to get his money. Even though he has been told that his money is on the way, he insists on continuing to argue about how debts should be paid and he says "this isn't kindergarten." I say to him "Your acting like this is kindergarten" as we get into the elevator. His reply to me after he referred to me as the "peanut gallery" was "Shut up!" and then "Go back to Iraq!" and the doors of the elevator closed as he said that to me. I think he and I were both lucky that those doors closed when they did. If they hadn't and my anger was at it's peak, who knows how I would have reacted.

I went back downstairs to my desk and cooled off a bit. I had to drop off a package at UPS so I thought a walk would help to calm me down. It did and I came back to my desk. I thought that as a Christian, I should turn the other cheek and just forgive and forget. One of my other co-workers, when he heard about it, felt that something should be done about the situation but I told him to just let it go. In some sense, my comment regarding his maturity level may have provoked him into reacting the way he did. I thought that maybe I should apologize to him. I ended up not doing it that day and went home.

I consulted with a good friend of mine about what I should do because I value and respect his opinion. He told me that I should report it not for my own sake and not for some sort of vengeance but rather for the protection of the next person. What if he says something like this again to another person who is a bit more fragile then me and it really hurts them? What if he says something in front of or to a customer of the company? How will his behavior reflect on the company?

I took his opinion to heart but I also would like to get some feed back from you as to what you think I should do. Please leave a comment if you have an opinion. Keep in mind that tomorrow is my last day at the office so the chances that my action will have an effect on me are minimal at the very least. I will probably never have to see this guy again after tomorrow but my co-workers that were with me to witness the whole thing will be. My fear is that if I say something and he is reprimanded, will he take some sort of action against them.

I have a picture of this guy from a Halloween party at the office from 2 years ago. He dressed up as a woman! This guy may have some deeper issues. I'll post the picture when this is all over with.

Update: Here is his Halloween picture.