TORTURE

Working at this government pharmaceutical facility is torture. The job review was cancelled due to an "emergency meeting" called by the higher-ups - they all rushed down the hall, white coats flapping, looking excited. Whatever is good news for them is always bad news for us. I wish this day would end. A new kid showed up this morning for the filing position that had opened up yesterday, and he was yammering away about how he had struggled with depression for years, and now he was taking "St. John's Wort" and he has been feeling great. I tried to shut him up, telling him NEVER to talk about taking any kind of natural medicine around here, but he just gave me this blank look.

"Kid," I said, trying to be patient, "you work in the Weapons of Mass Euphoria department, don't you get it? You extol the virtues of what you are TOLD is good, what you are TOLD works, what you are TOLD to take!"

"But, but," he sputtered, "I thought the purpose of this department was about people's health and well being!"

I tried to explain again, lowering my voice, but it was no good. He just kept insisting that he had already tried all of the anti-depressants and the only thing that helped him was St. John's Wort.

I finally gave up - I was getting a headache, and I knew that after lunch the filing position would be open again.

Sure enough, it is.

Yeah, okay, the kid irritated me, he wasn't listening, he wasn't getting it at all, but I wish I had gotten his address so that I could perhaps someday visit his mother and shed some light on his disappearance.