Obsession

"I never knew, people are obsessed with work." I said to Pete in a disappointing tone.

"Me neither." Pete was nodding his head in agreement. "I mean, she is crazy, she wants everything to be done. The dishes, the cleaning. She has gone mad."

"Yes, Pete. She............ she? Pete, I am talking about the boss."

"Ohh. I thought we were talking about my wife, Nancy." Pete, was now looking confused all over.
"I cant believe, that any person can get so obsessed with work. I mean look at him. Our dear boss, when he started working here, he was so cool, calm and always rocking. And now, .... now......"

"He rocks us!". said Peter.

"Yes, he rocks us. He is driving me insane now."

"3 days ago, he gave me the work. I told him, it will be done by next week. Next week, Pete. And still, helloooooo, 4 days to go. But he is all over me. I just dont get it. How can somebody get so obsessed with work. I have seen people getting obsessed with things, their principles, but with work. He is not even obsessed, he is crazy now. He is going mad, Pete. We need to do something."

"We ??" Peter was in no mood to support. "Naaah. I think we should leave him like that."

I couldn't stop me from thinking as to which parameters drives any person obsessed. One theory could be that he grew up in such atmosphere. Imagine a bunch of financial managers still on a table having dinner.

Father manager, pointing towards the pasta. "Pass, me the debit shares, honey."

Mother manager, "Sure dear. But you should take care of your assets too." while she points towards his stomach.

Father manager, "Oh, I have got it all covered. It shall be deposited using compound interest, next day."

Mother manager, "Ohh darling. dont forget the bonuses." while she pushes the plate of desert towards husband. And the boy boss. Poor child, sitting quietly on the table trying to figure out whats going on.

My second theory, tell me that my boss would have been total dush. He would be dush bag in school, then in high school, then in college. And so now, he is trying to live his life (or making our lives hell) by satisfying his bully needs.

Whatever be it with him, it did not stop me from making more theories, during which I realized a few more things. I have seen people obsessed with things. My distant cousin, Charlie, is obsessed with team T-shirts. He happens to collect all such T-shirts of entire team. And not just one team, every single MLB team. My ex-girlfriend, Stephanie, was obsessed with two things. Shopping and cleaning. She would spend her entire paycheck in just 3 hrs. All in shopping. Her house would be clean and sparkling all over the place. I wonder if she ever sleeps on her bed or cooks food, because from the point I see it, they are all cleaned up. One thing, I still dont understand is how she happens to manage her closet. If she is shopping a hell lot of things, he closet should be looking like hell by now (I know, mine would). However, she was not the only obsessed person I met in my life. My old neighbour, is still obsessed. She is an old lady, who has nothing much to do everyday. So all she does, is looks on the street from her apartment window and whenever, I am climbing the stairs, she would open her apartment door and would say the same old thing, "They didn't do it again. I knew those basterds are no good."

"Mrs. Locksmith. I know that the fruit guy is a honest person. I am sure, there is no reason to feel terrified." By now, I was exhausted and was trying to convince her.

"Terrified ! Huh! If he shows up to my apartment, I will shoot him with my shotgun."

"Mrs. Locksmith. He is just a fruit vendor. He is not a criminal. And you dont have a shotgun."

"He is a cheater. He gave me 2 apples less. You know what that means. In my days, we used to buy pounds of apples for a dollar. Now, all I get is 3 apples. Last week, there were 5 apples a dollar. He is a cheater and I call cops everyday to get him out of there. I will ruin him." said the old lady shouting. While I try to hurry back to my apartment.

I cant believe, how much the old lady is obsessed with that thing. Maybe because she has nothing to do the whole day rather than sitting in her window and looking down the street to see if the fruit vendor is still there.

Sometimes I feel I am the only one who is not obsessed with anything. In tube, I see people texting, emailing on their cellphones. Especially, guys with blackberries. They seem to be obsessed with those things like they have never seen one before. The minute, they seat in the metro, they start emailing, calling and working. Looking at them, I would always say in my mind, hellooo, get a life dude. look at you. you are like a monkey with a banana. wake up. I cant blame them too. Technology has got into us in a very bad way. Pete, would be working on his laptop while watching movies.

"Pete, why dont you just shut off the laptop and enjoy the movie." I said in a frustrating voice due to his constant typing.

"I am JD. I am enjoying the movie." Peter said while keeping his eyes fixed on the tv screen.

"Which part of enjoying you dont understand. And what are you doing on the laptop. I told you we will get project slides done by tomorrow afternoon." I told Pete.

"Its not work that I am doing."

"then"

"Check it out, I filled up the wikipedia page of the movie. See, its all complete now." Peter was smiling while he showed me the page on laptop, which, I felt like hitting on his head.

It is good to have obsession. It is something like too much of ambition. Too much of desire. But one should be careful, if this too much, does not become Too much. One should control every desire. Or else, one day, one will become a monster, like my boss. I can picture him clearly like a big red version of hulk. Except he is bad and ugly.

It just took him 1 week, to get over it. I did my job and he was happy to see it. So his obsession went by, from me to Patrica. Now, I would love to help Patricia. But I can't. After experiencing all the heat of obsession of my boss. I think I needed a break.