Friday, August 29, 2008

God Hates Who?

I told those that follow me via twitter that I'd blog about my being called the anti-christ by one of my coworkers, but that is rather a long story and I'm not quite up to it today, so I'm going to tell a shorter one along the same lines.

I work with a handful of people whose political and religious leaning are to the far right. I also work with some who are just as far to the left, but most of us, myself include are somewhere in the middle. One of my flaws is the fact i like to argue. A good debate keeps your min alive and when you are toiling between the windowless, cinder block walls of a governmental agency all day you need to infuse all the excitement into the job you can. More than once I've sparked a robust discussion by taking the contrarian stance to someone opinion even though I sort of agreed with them. It's a lot more fun to play devil's advocate.

There is one particular fellow that likes to argue as much as me. 99% of the time we get along just fine but we have had some doozy debates over the years. He is a staunch Republican, and a strong believer in the religious right. Today, I'll tell you about the first time I made him mad enough to spit.

A few years back a tornado hit the small town of Happy, Texas which is just a bit south of Amarillo. Here is a picture (see note at bottom) of that very storm.


The next day the newspaper headline read something like ... Tornado Kills Two In Happy Trailer Park.

The smaller story at he bottom of the page was about the same twister destroying the community's Baptist Church.

My coworker was reading the first story at the break table and had the paper folded so that I could see the other story while sitting opposite of him. It was upside down but I could still read the Headline. Tornado Demolishes Baptist Church.

Right about now my work buddy says of the article about the husband and wife who died in their single-wide trailer house, "This is further proof that God hates mobile homes."

I chime in and point to the other article, "He must hate Baptists too."

I was simply using the same logic as my coworker, but needless to say he wasn't amused.

I probably should point out I was raised attending a Baptist Church and most of my family are still Baptists. I find it funny that people often get the maddest when you turn their own words or logic back on them.

What's the maddest you ever made a coworker?


By the way the above tornado picture came from a website called Tempest Tours. If you ever wanted to be a storm chaser and chase down a tornado give them a visit to learn how you can.

17 comments:

Jenster said...

Um, I followed your logic and it made sense to me.

Patti said...

i've made grown women cry because i made them so mad. the incidents still make me chuckle.

Unknown said...

I know you probably don't believe me but I've been known to make a few grown men cry. It takes me a long time to get to know someone, so having just met me you probably can't see me chewing anybodies ass, but I can, and piss me off enough and i do...

My brother calls me dynamite, because I'm a big explosion in a small package. (I also have a long fuse, but burn it long enough and it's bad news for everyone.)

You remind me of my dad too. He used to always take the opposite view that we took. He used to say, I don't want you to believe in something because you heard me say it. i want you to believe in something, and then be able to defend it for yourself.

Say what you will but I seldom had issues with peer pressure the way other kids did. I was always strong enough to say no, and then tell them why I said no. Damn, I miss him

Spy Scribbler said...

OH! What IS it about that "God hates" thing. That MUST be a Southern thing. My DH does that. Drives me NUTS, let me tell you!

It's such a ridiculous statement.

Anyway, are you a Libra? I'm the same way, always taking the other side to balance things out. I'm really not disagreeing. I'm just trying to explore all the options, all the sides.

Angie Ledbetter said...

Don't know if I've ever made anyone mad enough to spit, but probably. Many of the men here in your neighboring state of LA love to argue too...not playing the devil's advocate so much, but because they think they're always right. 'Specially like the Cajun I'm married to. Good luck with your publishing quest.

Oh, and anybody ever made YOU that mad?

Charles Gramlich said...

I have a conservative friend who is also a big football fan. We've both pissed each other off over the years in debating football quarterbacks and preserving nature (me) versus further industrial development (him.)

Mary said...

I’m non-confrontational, so prefer to avoid any kind of argument ... except with my nasty sister-in-law. Everything has to be seen from her point of view. Even in normal conversation she is completely terrifying.

And she hates it if anyone repeats back to her whatever she’s said -- she’ll argue with her own words if uttered by someone else. She will go ballistic. Therefore, I do this as often as possible. :)

Duck said...

Makes sense to me man. If I was there I'd have had your back.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Your logic was impeccable, Travis. I don't know why he didn't get it. ;)

I like to play devil's advocate, too, sometimes. It's been a while since I got a co-worker angry, but I inadvertently do that to my hubby all the time. (I'm a Dem, he's a Republican.) We once had an argument about Condoleeza Rice. Go figure.

Linda

Joshua said...

hahahaha "he hates baptists too"

and i agree the funniest thing is turning ones logic on themselves.

and bring in religion...oh hell lol

yellowdoggranny said...

i make everyone mad at one time or another..like when christians grab my arm and ask me if ive found jesus..fuck...i say..i did't even know he was lost..should i call the texas rangers.?...
when people say god bless you i always say and the goddess bless you too...
i love being me..

preTzel said...

I have a coworker that knows *everything* and has done *everything* and tries to one up everyone. She's annoying as hell and drives me batshit crazy!

One day she came up to me and kept bumping my hip and saying "You're gonna fail..." over and over again. By the fourth time of me saying "STOP!" I had had it. She turned her back to me and I had a plastic spatula full of strawberry shortcake dough and I ran that down the back of her head. She has very long hair.

Needless to say I could have lost my job that day if another co - worker hadn't backed me up to the boss about what happened.

Melanie Miday-Stern said...

I have made someone mad enough to walk away red faced. It was pretty interesting. They could argue what I said b/c I was right. The funny thing was they are the type of person that they would make it a point to always be right. I trumped them finally!!

Politics and Religion are the two things I try to not mention at work. Unless someone totally missed the point. Then I have to impart my knowledge to them. LOL

Have a great weekend!

Lana Gramlich said...

*LOL @ "God hates Baptists!* Good one! I don't tend to upset my coworkers. These days you just can't tell when one of them will snap & come in w/a gun & an eye in your direction.
BTW, I got a chuckle out of this; "A good debate keeps your min alive..." ;)

Anonymous said...

I've made other co-workers mad at me, simply by using their words that they made their point with, to prove them wrong.

I do payroll for the state of CT.

'nuff said.

Shauna said...

LOL! That's hilarious. Anyone bold enough to declare "God hates mobile homes" deserves to have his words turned against him. Well done!

And this is coming from a born and bred Baptist. ;-)

Danette Haworth said...

What an ignorant statement on the part of your coworker.

I hate when people make statements like that, even when there's not a counter story to refute them. Do they really think mobile homes are number one on God's list of "Stuff I Have to Fix for Mankind"?