Some behavior is so odd it stands out even in Temp Town

You'd be amazed at the kind of idiosyncratic, quirky and downright bizarre behavior you become inured to if you spend enough time in Temp Town. Behavior that would get somebody a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation outside of Temp Town can draw no notice here. Of course, that doesn't mean nobody thinks those folks are weird, we're just used to that kind of stuff and barely even notice.

But there's a couple folks on this project worthy of comment, even in Temp Town. The first exhibits one of the odd behaviors of Temp Town that is so common as to be unremarkable, but then pumps that behavior up on steroids so hard as to stand out. Big time.

On this project, the firm puts out snacks -- junk food -- twice a day. Because temps are almost incapable of passing on free food, even if they don't want it, the snacks go quickly. Getting between where the snacks are and where the temps are when the snacks are first put out is to invite injury. You could put out fried moose turds, and if they were free, temps would stampede to get to them.

So the fact that the guy across from me goes and grabs two bags of snacks every time the firm puts them out is not unusual. What is weird is two-fold: first, he does what I have always advocated to avoid the snack stampede and brings his own. He has a couple boxes of Clif Bars on his desk. They remain unopened. segues us into the second part of what makes his snack-related behavior odd: he doesn't eat them. There is a pile of snacks on his desk that grows by four snack bags each day. If he keeps this shit up, the pile is going to fall over on him and kill him. Not sure what he has in mind. Maybe he's just a hoarder.

Down at the end of the row, we have Heidi. Heidi isn't her real name, it's just what I call her. She has blonde hair that she wears in pigtails curled up on the side of her head. She just looks like a Heidi. And she has a vaguely British accent. So what's odd? She's from Maryland and apparently never has been to the United Kingdom. Must be a big Madonna fan. It's the only reason I can think of for the fake accent.