All By Myself ...

I haven't really been blogging or even doing any internet surfing for the past couple of days due to the really crazy workload I have. We've got some crazy projects running in the office which requires a constant hands on approach not to mention some back breaking tedious labour work as well.

We recently (more like a month ago) purchased one of those large format ink-jet printing machines, the kind that can print buntings, banners, backdrops, stickers and a host of other things to complement our existing digital printing machines and people are becoming aware of its existence and are starting to give us more jobs.

We're not a big setup but a nice small one and that means that my boss and me have to practically get down on our hands and knees to do the final finishing for all the jobs we get which is really back breaking to say the least. In fact we just finished a huge order yesterday and have another set of orders lined up for next week which means my blogging time will be quite limited ... siggghhh ...

Anyway, that really wasn't what I wanted to talk about. My boss rents a small room at the back of the office to this elderly gentleman, somewhere in his 60's I think. Initially he was just renting the back room to run his small format printing business but now he's also staying in the office. I don't really know the history of this guy except that he's not married and don't really have a family.

I don't really interact with him all that much, not because I'm snobbish or anything but simply because I mind my own business most of the time. Since our new machine came in, my boss kinda hired him to help us out and he's pretty eager, sometimes a little too eager that he gets on both my boss's and my nerves. But with him being much senior than both of us we don't tell him off out of respect.

Not to be mean or anything but he's also a little weird in the head. Many a times you can hear him in his room talking to himself or simply sitting in the pantry and smiling away. Then there are times when he will just run into my boss room, excitedly and forcefully tell him to get a pen and a piece of paper, write down a particular number and force him to buy one of those Magnum 4D lottery numbers which till this very day has never won anything, not even close.

Now that he's more or less working for us, he gets on my nerves quite a bit by insisting we do the production work his way, not that I really listen to him all that much. I still do things my way. But he has his fair share of genius ideas that helps us to get things done much faster, if only he wasn't so insisting about wanting to do everything his way. I can't blame him though, he's at an age where he thinks he knows way better than us 'younger' people. I suppose everyone goes into that phase eventually.

But what really got me thinking was the fact that he lives in a small rented back room in the office all on his own. What happened to his family? Doesn't he have any siblings? What about kids? Has he even been married before? Is he all alone in this world?

He doesn't have much friends because people think he's a little weird. Most of the time, he only talks to me, my boss and some of our regular clients. There I am after work happily heading home to my family in this nice house, sitting and having my dinner and then watching TV and stuff while there he is, all alone in this tiny room, having to go out and buy his dinner every night with no family to call his own.

I do feel sorry for him at times but then maybe that's the life he chose. Maybe he wants to be independent and live on his own. Maybe he can't get along with family or relatives and they kicked him out or something. I don't know and I really don't want to find out the reason anyway. All I know is I don't think I could live without my family and my close friends and I hope I never have to.

I'd probably lose my mind if I was all alone most of the time with no one to talk to and I'm so thankful that I have wifey by my side to constantly irritate all the time ... LOL! What about you guys? Do you think you could live on your own in your old age? Stay in a small little room at the back of some office? With no one to talk to, no family or friends? I know I couldn't.

With that all said and done, have a great weekend :D

Note - And if any of you need to print buntings, banner, backdrops, stickers, posters, profiles, booklets, wedding cards, business cards ... well just about anything that can be printed on ... you all know who to look for, right? :D
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