Making a Mess of the Situation

Someone (not me) vomited on my friends' floor the other night, so I felt obligated to mop the floor to make it good as new. Why did I feel obligated? All right, maybe it was me, but that's beside the point.

Tonight, I exited my house with my mop and bucket, and passed by my neighbor. "Did you get a new job, Kevin?" he asked. "Oh God no!" I said dismissing his joke. "Oh, I just thought... I saw you with the mop..." my neighbor sputtered. He hadn't been joking.

It's worth noting that my neighbor is a custodian, a fact I wasn't considering when I gave some asshole elitist response to his inquiry. I might as well have told him that I'm too good and white for a cleaning job. And then I left him in a position to apologize for insulting me, when he was the one that was rightfully insulted.

Sure, with all of the money I've invested in higher education, I'd like to think I'm qualified for a more prestigious career, but as someone who has been minimally employed at best for the past year, I'm not really "better" than that in any shape or form. I've still got more of my Connecticut upbringing in me than I'd like to admit.

Ugh, he's the one neighbor with which I'm actually friendly.

And I thought I was a douche when I vomited on the floor...