A Fight I Didn't Know I Was In

Tonight, after working at the bookstore, I climbed into my car, turned it on and got out again to brush the light layer of snow from my windows. I got back in and dropped my snow brush on the floor behind my seat and began the journey home. As I'm pulling out of the parking lot, I look in my rear view mirror and notice that there's snow on the mirror. I think, "Where did that come from?" Then else something catches my eye, I look up onto the ceiling of my car and it's spattered with snow! I look in my backseat, snow everywhere! What looks like the point of impact of a large snowball is on the backside of the passenger's seat and I am dumbfounded. What in the world is going on?! I think back and know that I didn't throw my brush into the back seat nor was there enough snow on it to cause this display. Did someone throw a snowball into my car? Maybe I left a door open? When I parked before going into work, there were two people walking by that kept looking back at my car, as if they were annoyed that I parked there. Could they have come back seeking vengeance for whatever crime I had committed against them? Who does something like that? I am baffled as I drive home. Even more so when I notice that it's not really melting as my car warms up.

I decide to take pictures when I get home and tell my tale of being attacked for no reason. Being ambushed. Targeted. Bullied. I am incensed and by golly people are going to hear about it! I park, whip out my camera and start snapping away. I start at the ceiling, working my way back to the backseat, catching a shot of the front passenger seat which is also covered. I want to get the best shot, to really show off the destructive power strangers can have. I'm getting the real money shot when I notice something in the drink holder of the back seat.

A pop can.

A pop can that was formerly full but is now bulging with the tell-tale signs of a recent explosion. It's not snow covering the inside of my car. It's green tea ginger ale.

I am...embarrassed, that I would jump to the always logical, a-stranger-broke-into-my-car-to-throw-snow-in-it-because-they-didn't-like-where-I-parked, conclusion. I am relieved, that that didn't actually happen. I am many things. But as I shake my head at myself and have a laugh I think about another situation I'm currently in that feels very similar to this.

A new co-worker of mine has struggled to see the innumerable reasons why it's a treat to work with me every day. From the get go, it seems she's had her mind made up that I'm not to be trusted. Or talked to. I've been confused from the start, but have tried to make headway with her. We started working together and she decided she didn't like where I parked and decided to sneak a few ginger ale bombs into my work day. Sometimes I'm tempted to lob them back at her but I resist. Maybe one day I'll realize, like I did tonight, that it's not intentional. It's not meant to be malicious. She just doesn't do too well in the cold.