<p>I'm blogging once again from my temporary assignment out here in El Segundo. I couldn't help myself, because what happened here today has blown my mind. I sit in a cubicle with two occupied cubicles behind me. To my left are a couple of regular offices that house sales people. One of these people, we'll call her 'Georgia', is a smoker. That alone is enough to make her bad, but there's more. Even before I knew that Georgia was a smoker, I got a sense that the rest of the people in the office were not big fans of Georgia. People didn't necessarily pay attention when she talked. If they did pay attention, it was often followed by a roll of the eyes. On Monday, I overheard her ask three different people how their weekend was only to be ignored because the people she was asking were all on the phone. Until today, I thought they were all a bit harsh, but now I'm starting the think that the reason this woman is so unpopular is because she is oblivious not only to what other people are doing around her, but that there ARE other people around her.</p> <p> Now, as I mentioned, she's a smoker, and we're used to catching a whiff of her reek whenever she comes in from a cigarette break. As a result, we didn't pay much attention at first to the odor lingering in the air this morning. However, as time passed, and we hadn't noticed Georgia walk in or out for a while, we got a little curious. Indeed, the odor was not dissipating; it was growing stronger. Georgia's door was closed, but on approach, we knew we were getting warmer. Georgia was smoking in her office! As much as the evidence pointed to this conclusion, I just couldn't quite bring myself to believe that this was actually happening, especially in a state where smoking is illegal in all restaurants and bars. I glanced into the office next to hers to see if there were windows in these offices. There were, so I thought she must be hanging out the window smoking and thinking she can get away with it without anybody noticing. But then I noticed that the windows were sealed. There was no way to open them. So, this woman is sitting in her office smoking, knowing that the only place for the smoke to go is into the rest of the office. I'm amazed that the fire alarm didn't go off, which would have been awesome, by the way. After several people reported this offense to the higher ups, the COO came by to let her know that smoking in the office is inappropriate behavior. Can you imagine having to even make that statement? Her excuse was that she was stuck on a phone call, and she just took one good drag and put it out. As much as this excuse may sound like it, Georgia is not a pre-teen. Sorry, but that blew my mind!</p>