Listen to that co-worker that talks too much.

I stayed late after work tonight to work on some side hustles. And as those nights usually go, I was semi-interrupted by a talkative co-worker. I’d be lying if I said it was unexpected becuase he usually comes out to play at the end of the night when everyone s gone.

We started off talking about sports, which led to, the Oscars so White conversation, which led to slavery, then what movie he wanted to make about slavery and the middle passage, which led to oppression in general. All while making sure to interject that he wasn’t lecturing and didn’t mean to offend me throughout the convo.

Which I already understood because of our previous convos. I was familiar with this rabbit hole but I let him continue.

He eventually got to the fact that he almost quit the other day and how unhappy he really was with his current working conditions. I already knew all of this from office gossip but I listened and offered advice here and there. At the end of it he eneded up telling me he basically quit and had already put in his two weeks notice and was just waiting for his boss to return.

I asked why he hadn’t quit earlier if this had been going on for as long as he said, and he said that he was waiting for change and gave me some metaphor about not kicking down taller men than him. Which i responded by saying,

“Well, another saying is that ‘if people show you who they are, believe them.’

He looked at me for a second and then kept talking.

He just wanted to be recognized for his work. He wanted to not drive home (to a hotel) for 3 hours every night. He didn’t even really want to quit. I think he just wanted to be heard.