Reason for unemployment: Facebook rage!

I’ve seen quite a few people break down where I work for a variety of reasons; stress, fear, relationship issues, depression, drugs or alcohol, the list goes on. I recently had the marvelous opportunity to witness the most ridiculous breakdown/freakout session ever! It was over of all things, Facebook withdrawal.

There has been a lot of turnover here as people finish up their contracts and head back so there are tons of new faces wandering around my camp. The housing on the camp consists of several different variations of 20’ conex containers converted into living quarters. It sounds ghetto…ok it is ghetto but after living in a tent for 4 years it’s like a mansion to me. Our rooms are all pre-wired for internet access on the company network but only people with a business justification or someone who has a friend in IT actually has the internet turned on in their room. I’ve got both.

For new guys here who are waiting for their assignments there isn’t a whole lot to do so they tend to gather in bunches outside and the conversations always seem to be about the same things; stupid rumors about the war here, how much better things would go if they were in charge, sex and hookers, and the typical BS war stories that you hear from guys who have never even been shot at, much less even left the wire.

I have zero patience for any of that anymore so I usually just ignore new people or old idiots but as I was walking to a meeting the other evening, I heard the distinctive high-pitched tones of a grown man on the verge of losing it so out of curiosity I walked closer to where a crowd of 5 or 10 people had spontaneously gathered to witness an adult tantrum.

It took me a few seconds to catch up with the guy’s rant but his rage seemed to be primary directed at another guy, probably a supervisor or manager, and he was hollering about how “None of my friends know what I’m doing…I have NO idea what’s going on back home…my LIFE is on Facebook, don’t you understand??? People are gonna be freakin’ out if I’m not on there! Do you know what this is like for me?!?” I kid you not, this was probably a 35-40 year old man doing this.

Then he turned to a couple of the little guys from India who had stopped to watch the big idiot American and he started yelling at them saying, “I BET YOU’VE GOT F**KIN’ INTERNET IN YOUR ROOM! That’s bulls**t!”

Then be addressed his complaints to the crowd in general, alternately lambasting them with the accusation that they all had internet in their room and then attempting to elicit their sympathy with a few “You know what I’m sayin’???” or “Are you with me on this??” comments.

His voice was shrill and he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. After a minute or two I was so disgusted that I just shook my head and walked away. I later heard the guy quit and went home.

I’ve been thinking about this all week. In addition to how stupid it is for a grown man to throw a hissy-fit like that over anything, the fact that it was over Facebook makes it that much worse. I imagine there were a few other contributing factors but for the nail in the coffin of quitting a $100,000 job to be no Facebook in your room is to me a perfect indicator of pathetic excess and shallowness.

I understand the merits of Facebook or Twitter, or even the dinosaur Myspace. Reconnecting with old friends is great and the sites can all be quite entertaining at times but it is real easy to get carried away in. I seldom use it but to me it is beginning to feel like the potential negative aspects outweigh the benefits, that friendships become more superficial as people content themselves with posting short little comments about every inane detail of their day and then neglect the more personal and meaningful acts of communication that build and sustain friendships such as actual personalized letters or emails.

Of all the things to contemplate...Facebook. I need this R&R haha.

Ah well, I’ve got a self-imposed 10 minute time limit on bitch sessions on the computer and my time is up.