Karma Cleanser - September 25 2002

Dear Karma Cleanser:
The cruelest plot I have ever hatched against an unsuspecting enemy has to do with my old boss. I was working a retail job while taking night classes, and, suffice it to say, the job sucked big time. It was a small store in a college town and our store manager, “Terry,” treated us employees like we were children. After working there all summer, my co-workers and I decided to get revenge against Terry for the way she had acted. The store had these metal racks screwed into the walls all over the place, and we started leaving extra screws on the floor near the racks. Terry would spot one and spend hours trying to figure out which rack the screw had fallen out of. This kept her busy for days, I’m not kidding.

At the end of the summer all of us quit at once, and the store closed up not too long after. Now Terry manages a coffee shop in the same town. My friend who works there says she’s not nearly the bitch she used to be.

b>-- Creative Prankster

The Karma Cleanser wonders if perhaps you actually did Terry a favor, giving her the chance to sling coffee instead of lording over a smart-ass group of retail slaves. Let’s hope, in the end, that she doesn’t feel too screwed.

br>?Dear Karma Cleanser:
My mother keeps calling my new boyfriend a “terrorist.” I’m completely offended by the way she’s treating the man I’m in love with. Just because he’s not from the U.S., she has no right to act like such a racist pig.

Since this argument began I’ve been wishing that something would happen to show my mother just how foolish she is being. I don’t want there to be bad blood between us because of the man in my life. Am I being irrational by expecting her to come around to my way of thinking? Please tell me she’s making some really bad karma for herself by acting this way.

b>-- Words Matter

These are troubled times, when overheard conversations in restaurants lead to multi-state manhunts and passengers are evicted from airplanes for even the slightest offenses. We’re all a little on edge. Regardless, your mom’s attitude toward the new beau only reveals her own ignorance. Although she may be racking up bad karma by the bushel, don’t expect her attitude to change overnight. Real growth takes time, and usually happens in tiny spurts. Let your mother know that her words hurt, and give the universe time to show her that she’s being the real terrorist here.

Been bad? E-mail karma@creativeloafing.com.??