Well suck me raw with a breast pump!

Heh. I had the "opportunity" yesterday to talk to Evil Property Manager for the very first time.

I saw him at the start of my shift, as I was in a common area heading through a door into my site. He was in sweats (Labour Day is a statutory holiday here in Canada, not sure about the US) and I was in full uniform. He half-smiled and nodded his head in noncommital acknowledgement, and I gave nothing in return.

A moment later he realized who I was, froze up, and turned away. That's why I didn't bother returning the gesture - I know this dude. ;)

Anyway, about an hour later someone from the adjacent site was banging on my doors, asking for help.

It turns out he was working in the lab when he heard breaking glass. Someone smashed a window and grabbed a flat panel monitor in the adjacent room. It's possible they were going to grab the rest of the stuff in that room, but he was so noisy (so he says) getting over there that they fled with just the one. He phoned 911 himself, but was looking for some security to watch the area and possibly protect him in the meantime.

Interestingly enough, this falls under the jurisdiction of both Evil Property Manager and the Usual Gang of Idiots, better known as the bike patrol guys. Even more interesting, there is only twenty-two hour security on the site, and this happened smack dab in the middle of those two hours when there's no security around. I'm sure that's just a coincidence though. Yes, a coincidence.

Anyway, I went with him to see what happened, the police arrived, and I left them to it. I told the employee that I'd make some calls for him. So... I called Evil Property Manager and left him a message about what had happened.

Less than a minute later, he called back. I'm sure he wouldn't have if he realized that it was me again, but who knows? I quickly repeated the gist of my message, but in slightly more detail, and he wondered why the employee hadn't called the bike patrol company, and that I should tell the employee to do that.

I told him that I wasn't with the employee anymore, and he asked "So you can't find him?"

Man, what a jerk.

I said "I can find him, but it's not my responsibility to run messages for people." He replied with "Well, either you or him need to call [bike patrol company]."

Useless fucker.

More in the interests of giving the employee some piece of mind, so that he didn't feel he was vulnerable, I called the damn security company. I can't believe I danced to EPM's tune. :P

And speaking of jerks, before I left for the weekend I left written instructions for the three guards under me (I managed to talk to two of them in person after I wrote them, however) to check on something they hadn't had to do in the past.

And The Sleeper, who's only been tolerable when he was on painkillers (thanks for figuring that out from the evidence, Jay) actually made a point of writing that he'd done that on his daily reports.

I relieved him yesterday (he filled in the extra shift that the stat created) and he started cozying up to me, asking when I take my supervisor's course and other chitchat that was way out of character. Maybe he's a born sycophant.

Although in reviewing the log of the site phone, I noticed that he called Barney during his shift. I'm going to have to put a stop to that. Not to sound like a bad spy movie, but specific information doesn't need to be going out to the deposed/disgraced former leader.

Plus, I don't need any behind-the-scenes string pulling going on while I'm still learning the ropes.

And now for the news article that prompted the title of this entry, Clever Whales Bait Gulls With Fish. I'll reproduce it for you folks that are too lazy to press that heavy mouse button. ;)

Clever Whales Bait Gulls With Fish













NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario (AP) -- An enterprising young killer whale at Marineland has figured out how to use fish as bait to catch seagulls -- and shared his strategy with his fellow whales.
Michael Noonan, a professor of animal behavior at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., made the discovery by accident while studying orca acoustics.

“One day I noticed one of the young whales appeared to have come up with a procedure for luring gulls down to the pool,'' the professor said. “I found it interesting so I noted it in my log.''
First, the young whale spit regurgitated fish onto the surface of the water, then sank below the water and waited.

If a hungry gull landed on the water, the whale would surge up to the surface, sometimes catching a free meal of his own.

Noonan watched as the same whale set the same trap again and again.

Within a few months, the whale's younger half brother adopted the practice. Eventually the behavior spread and now five Marineland whales supplement their diet with fresh fowl, the scientist said.

“It looked liked one was watching while the other tried,'' Noonan said of the whale's initial behavior.

The capacity to come up with the gull-baiting strategy and then share the technique with others -- known as cultural learning in the scientific world -- was once believed to be one of those abilities that separated humans from other animals.

But biologists have since proven certain animals, including dolphins and chimps, do this.
“This is an example in which a new behavior spread through a population,'' Noonan said. “We had the opportunity to see a tradition form and spread in exactly the way that cultures do in humans.''

He first shared his research earlier this month at the U.S. Animal Behavior Society Conference in Utah. Since then, he said, his phone hasn't stopped ringing.