Hanukkah/International Hug Day/Santa's List Day/Cookie Day/Wear Brown Shoes Day/Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day
2007-12-04 @ 7:59 p.m.

Today, I got yelled at for not greeting someone when he was talking on his handphone. It was also the first time in two years of NS that I felt physically threatened by someone. Anyway, it was apparently totally my fault for being rude. Of course, I didn't bother to argue with him. In a military organisation, might is automatically right, no matter what they preach for PR purposes. Anyway, the military is just one of those places that is notoriously resistant to change. In this case, I just found it mildly insulting that having my greeting perfunctorily acknowledged was somehow regarded as okay, as if I didn't really matter (which in his eyes, I don't). Oh well, it's not like my greeting would have been heartfelt in the first place, although there are people in camp whom I greet willingly and genuinely, but I take exception to being reprimanded for what is normally considered a polite course of action in society - not interrupting people while they're having a conversation. It goes to show how diametrically at odds the institutional culture is with the real world. Yes, say what you want, this place is anything but the real world. Anyone who's been through two years here will know what I mean when I say that. You know what's the freakiest part about the whole incident? When he found out I was going to ORD on Friday, he shook my hand and congratulated me, as if nothing had happened before that. Such rapid mood swings can't be indicative of a healthy psyche. All I can do is reiterate what I told Shirley, which is that in three days' time I will be gone from this godless place and not a moment too soon.