Part of what's been bugging me these past few months has been my coworker and buddy, Art. Over the years at UPS, I've grown close to only two people at work. He's one of them. (Nacho is the other one, durr.) And while I do care for him and I can honestly call him a friend, he also has some qualities that really piss me off. He kinda reminds me of my sister in that sense. In that they're both emotional, stupid and irrational when it comes to their romantic relationships. Art's not married, but he has a son, and he lives with his baby-mamma. So I guess it's a common-law marriage. Sometimes, he'll bitch about Diane (well, he's gotten a lot better at that since I told him to quit bitchin' if he didn't plan to change his situation - and maybe they're stabilizing as a couple some) or make some weird comment about her now and again, which kinda hints that he's not really happy where he's at. Lately, he's been feeling guilty about living in the town that he does, because it's dangerous and crime-ridden and he and his family have had a few scares already. He says he wants to move them out to one of the cleaner, safer towns, but hesitates because the rent is much higher. He says he needs to save money, but then he leaves work early after working only maybe 3 � hours. He says one thing and then does another, which really grates on my nerves. And the main reason he flip-flops on what he says and does, is because of Diane. Now, I don't know the lady, never seen her even once, but from the way Art acts when he talks to her on the phone, from the way he's bitched about her personality in the past, and from what even other coworkers who know Art outside of work have said, she's a psycho-bitch from hell. Not my words, okay? People have used those exact words to describe her to me. Words like "crazy" and "jealous" and "emotionally unstable" seem to follow whenever someone mentions Art's girl. And he's come to work with scratches and bruises before. Just last week, he actually confessed that she was responsible for (at least) some of them. He worries me, but he won't leave her. Not only that, he jumps at her beck and call. In crude terms: he's pussy-whooped.

Yesterday he left at eight o'clock, a full hour before his usual early departure. Because Diane called, and he started to explain, but God damn it, I was fed up with him! I had just gone over with him and Alex that I need him to stay later to help us out, 'cause the International Department is pretty much being run by only two people at this point. "Yeah, I can stay 'til 9:50 all this week," he said, and then he pulls this shit. So I didn't let him finish his weak-sauce explanation. I told him I didn't give a shit, and that he was a pussy-whipped little bitch. I heard Alex gasp behind me, then try to suppress a giggle (I mean it when I say everyone talks smack about Art's relationship with Diane behind his back - even the supervisors). Art tried to be nonchalant about it; we usually insult each other back and forth all sort - it's how we get along. But he knew I wasn't smiling this time; I meant what I said, how I said it. And he left anyway (of course, 'cause she's got him by the balls), and this is probably not the first time we've pissed each other off, but that was one of the ugliest things I've said to him. And I wanted to, which is worse. I wanted it to sting in his manly pride, if he's got any left. I'm not saying he should leave Diane; but relationships are about equal partnership, not these bullshit little games. And that goes for work relationships, too. Because what this boils down to, is that though I can trust Art with my personal issues, I can't count on him as a coworker; he's unreliable. After Art left, Alex looked over at me and said she was afraid this was all just gonna get worse.