Get To Work, Goddamnit!

I am lazy, there is no disputing that. However, despite that, I try to actually get my work done and, for all intents and purposes, I am actually in the office, trying to get my work done. This isn't always the best approach to work but it does mean I am there when needed, and I am able to get to work whenever I have to. Combine that with the fact that I usually finish my work early and I figure I'm a half-decent employee, a functional component of the corporate machine.

However, the same cannot be said of one of my co-workers.

I've come to learn to adjust to how my co-workers are. For the most part, I don't mind some of their stranger habits, in the same way that they don't mind mine. In other words, we've found a way to get along with one another by enduring the things we don't like, and playing off of the things we like about each other. This is, of course, including those little things that make their way into every relationship, regardless of nature. Those little conflicts and minor instances, and the way that some people just won't tell another person they don't like them to their face.

However, like any system, there will always be one problem component. Oddly, in this case, the problem component is not me.

There's this one writer, you see. He tends to just get up and disappear for random spans of time no less than 30 minutes. For the most part, many of us don't notice him leave, and we generally don't notice him come back. Sometimes he'll leave for lunchbreak and not come back until hours afterwards, with no explanation of why it took him so long or where he went after he ate. This wouldn't be so bad if it happened only occasionally, but it happens on a daily basis. You can probably imagine this gets...frustrating after a while.

For the most part, though, I ignored it. He was managing to complete his work, even if it did take significantly longer than it should have. After all, at least he seems to know he has no right to complain about the lack of time to do the work since he's only in the office...what? Half the time or something?

But this morning was...well, it was what one might consider the last straw. He's here before I get to work, which is not unusual. At some point, he leaves. Nobody seems to have noticed this happen. He leaves no word of where he's going or what he's doing. He's gone until about half an hour before lunch. He just comes in and sits down as if he just took a short trip to the bathroom to wash his hands or something. He was gone for...about 3 to 4 hours, damnit. And up until literally just a few seconds ago, he was gone again.

At first, it was weird. After a while, I figured I could just ignore it. A bit more, and I started wondering just where in the fucking Nine Hells this guy goes. Then I got frustrated, because he keeps coming and going like he owns the place and never seems to get anything done on time whenever he does. And now? Now I'm just god-fucking annoyed by it.

I know we've all got other stuff to take care of, but would it kill you to spend most of your work hours at your actual workplace?

Goddamnit, man! You were hired to work for a set number of hours (or be in the office, at the very least), so have the decency to actually be there.