It has to be the shoes, because it can't possibly be the brain.
Kole is one of the biggest morons in the office. While I tend to have a negative view of most of the people who work in my office, Kole had apparently drawn the attention of some of the other people in the office, who also maintain the belief that he is not very bright and that he really shouldn't be working there. But because of the department's desperation to hang on to people, management is in no hurry to cut him loose, even though he really isn't doing his job that well.
I have had the opportunity to work directly with Kole on just one occasion and one occasion only. I've done my damnedest to avoid him ever since.
Back in January, Gloria and I were in a meeting with him. Kole's supervisor at the time, Karole, was also present and as far as I'm concerned, Karole is just as dumb and dim-witted as he is. Gloria and I were trying to fill them both in regarding an upcoming assignment that was headed their way and we wanted to brief them as best we could, so that they both had an idea as to what to expect. This is a typical thing, to have meetings where we try and give workers and their supervisors some insight as to incoming assignments, so that they can be as informed as possible when they take over those situations.
As much as it kills me to give her this credit, I will admit that Karole was paying attention and otherwise following along. She didn't give the impression that she was lost or otherwise struggling to following along with what Gloria and I were trying to tell her and Kole. Kole, on the other hand, had effectively zoned out. Lost. Dense. Staring off into the distance. Eyes fixated something in front of him, perhaps something that only he could see. While Gloria and I have been known to sometimes use words that features more than three syllables, during that particular meeting, I don't think that we used any big words or confusing terms. We knew who our audience was and the last thing we wanted to do was confuse the brain trust that was Karole and Kole by utilizing confusion terminology.
I think Karole was following along. She knew what we were trying to say. Kole did not. He was effectively asleep, but with his eyes open. Karole would briefly excuse herself, as she wanted to review her notes and determine whether there was any information she had missed. Gloria, in seemingly recognizing the blank expression on Kole's face just as I did, would break the silence that crept into Karole's office as we all sat there. I remained silent and wanted nothing to do with Kole, especially after seeing him effectively check-out and assume that glazed look in his eyes.
Gloria had made a comment to Kole about his shoes. I'm paraphrasing here.
Hey, what kind of shoes are those? Those look like the latest Nikes.
Whatever. I don't know what exactly she asked him about his shoes, because truth be told, it wasn't really the question itself that mattered. It was Kole's reaction to it that caught my attention. Gloria noticed it too.
Kole suddenly perked up and came back to life. Now clearly out of the trance that had overwhelmed him minutes earlier and wide awake, he proceeded to get into a mini conversation with Gloria about shoes. That exchange probably lasted no more than five minutes, but it was long enough for me to realize that Kole would be one of the many people in the office with whom I will never interact unless such interaction is forced on me. This man can't even pretend to focus on work even for a few minutes, but the moment something that irrelevant as footwear is brought up, he wakes up, like some kind of light switch is hit, and he immediately returns to life.
Just as he had done to Gloria as she spoke about work-related stuff, I proceeded to tune Kole out the moment he got to talking about shoes. I don't care about shoes enough to engage in full-on conversations about them. I just don't. I have my preferences as far as brands go (Fila, Reebok, Adidas), just like the next man, but as for me, the minute anyone comments on or makes remarks about my shoes, this does not trigger anything in my brain which would prompt me to get into a lengthy talk about shoes.
I don't talk about shoes. Shoes are just footwear. They are not conversation pieces, at least not to me.
Kole is a moron. He likes to talk about shoes. He can't even fake being interested in work, not even for a short meeting.
I can't work with someone whose level of focus is so off that he is a liability. From what I understand, the work that he does manage to complete isn't that good anyway.
Gee, you don't say...
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