‘Have you checked it?’
‘Checked what?’ I scold.
‘You know, all the car things,’ Eli gestures.
It was at this moment that I got the urge to simply wring Eli’s neck. I don’t know what ‘car things’ he’s talking about! We’ve been talking about ‘car things’ all bloody morning! I curse the day my work decided for the company to go on a scavenger hunt. In fact, I curse the people who decided to put me in a pairing with Eli. He’s the mailroom guy! He’s slack, lazy and simply unresourceful. Maybe if he wasn’t so lazy, he’d have taken care of the log book service. Adelaide is hours away from our home city. He should have known to make sure the car was in working order before we left. I even offered to take my car, but he was insistent on taking his enviro-friendly piece of trash.
‘It’s your car, you’re the one to be checking things!’ I bite back.
‘Yeah, but you’re driving.’
‘Exactly! I’m driving, so therefore I should not be distracted by checking all these ‘car things’ you speak of.’
Eli sits back in his chair and looks out the window. I feel bad for speaking to him this way, but he’s just incredibly infuriating. It’s amazing how you can take the man out of the office and he can still be a total pain.
Eli speaks again. ‘I’m only asking if you checked things because this light is flashing.’
‘You don’t get it? It means you need to book an engine diagnostics check.’
Eli flashes me a blank look. His eyes are dull and I’m greeted by nothing other than his bucked teeth.
We both stay silent for another moment. I can see he doesn’t get it. In fact, I don’t think he has any clue about what I’m talking about. I feel guilty for my frustration. It’s not his fault he’s a bit of a hillbilly. He’s not a rude guy either. He’s actually one of the kindest guys I’ve ever met. Unfortunately, this is all watered down by his insufferable antics.