Which Reminds Me

Carol the receptionist was Mark's partner in crime. They were both fired and dispatched to oblivion after it was discovered that they were illegally tapping the telephones in the building. Oddly, Carol's telephone would always ring first thing in the morning as soon as work was to start, something about setting up the tapping mechanism for the day it was learned later, or at least that was what Sharon said shortly after the firings. Carol was from Montana, widow of a pilot and Debbie Tracy's former piano teacher. Some may be wondering whether Carol spent a lot of time in prison atoning for her illegal wiretapping activities but it seems not. She very well connected to the characters at TBN and knows all about their personal lives so they apparently intervened to get the criminals excused. In fact, it almost seems that Mark and Carol were rewarded for their crimes because tidbits of lunchroom conversations are still circulating in the ozone layer, as if there was nothing wrong with spying on innocent bystanders such as myself and as if Mark's opinion ever mattered to anyone. Very weird. I never worked for the TBN people so it is not like they would ever mail me a paycheck for whatever insignificant trivia gathered in that highly offensive way. You have to be hired and placed on the payroll with a W-9 form before you can get a paycheck so it is not like these charges of insubordination would ever really stick. It is not that some people in the neighboring ministry were volunteering their time but I was not in a position to do the volunteering thing for just anybody. It sounds so good to volunteer, and I inquired about that option more than once, but my volunteering options are not something that I would want to discuss with Mark Carpenter. It was really none of Mark's business whether or not I had previously telephoned some other entity to inquire about volunteering options there. It is not like I would want to discuss that with some other people in the office. It was just something to think that but not necessarily do. So it was rather odd that the volunteer asked me if I also wanted to volunteer with them. As if I did not already work 40 hours per week. As if I would want to spend more time in their office hanging around doing more things that bore me out of my mind and with no paycheck to compensate. With their office staffed entirely by volunteers they would be able to spend all of the funds raised on expensive evening gowns and airline travel and Cadillacs and luxury real estate ventures. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that but I prefer not to get involved, thanks anyway. Not on that basis. Maybe I was too emotional in the way I expressed my "No." In retrospect I might say "No" in a nicer, more pleasant way, but still my answer would be No No No. Never Never. Never.