men and their immaturity

People always quote me when I answer this question: What type of guy interests you? This is because of my answer and my manner of answering. First I tilt my head to the right, raise an eyebrow, narrow my eyes then ask: Guy?? The usual reply I get is: Yes, guy... what do you want... girl??? If there were other girls around, expect giggles.

I answer: Guys don't interest me, men do.

And as if on cue, blank or puzzled faces stare back at me. It is then time for me to explain that I'm not looking for an old man, I'm just looking for someone mature. You can be mature at a young age or be immature even at an old age. It's interesting how some fifty year old men are still clueless about their future... literally happy-go-lucky.

The reason why I brought this up is because of my friend's recent experience (let's name him George). He's been working for a couple months now in this department and his superior gave him a box of chocolates for his birthday. Not a lot of people knew that today was George's special day, so he was really surprised when his superior came in with a gift. This made him happy... too happy,in fact, that he shared the gift with everyone in the building.

While he was telling me this through chat, I was laughing and at the same time wondering why he'd done such a thing...

Two days later I catch George online again and he told me about a recent incident in the lunch room. It was raining that day and many of his co-workers, including their superiors, opted for fastfood delivery. A couple of minutes after the food came, their manager (let's call him Keith)walked in the room. He greeted everyone and then mentioned of how generous my friend's immediate superior (let's name him Santiago) was to give George a birthday gift. George told me of how surprised Santiago seemed as their manager spoke. At first Keith was talking about how Santiago should be the example of other immediate superiors, as he truly takes care of his subordinates and makes sure they were happy all the time.

What took Santiago aback though was when Keith kidded about how everyone should now expect a gift from Santiago since he's so generous. At the same time, Santiago should also be given the responsibility of holding department celebrations and get-togethers since he has a special talent in making people happy.

This was the time when I asked George: That seems so weird... Hypocritical and immature.

George is around the same age as I am, and he told me that Santiago was in his late forties and Keith in his late thirties. I asked him if he sensed any tension or irony as Keith spoke about Santiago and he said: No... as a matter of fact, I even told everyone how yummy the chocolate was and they all agreed!

At that point I just wanted to reprimand George, because (even without knowing), I know that there is a little friction between Keith and Santiago. I mean, why would a manager tell his subordinate (who happens to be of position as well) to organize celebrations and get-togethers?? Shouldn't a secretary do that kinda stuff? I asked George how Santiago took this hypocritical comment and all he said was, "Uhmm, he seemed alright with it."

At that point, I just didn't know who to rant about first: George, Keith, or Santiago??????

George: For a guy in his early twenties, I am sure he's aged-out of the stage wherein he needs to show everyone the awesome birthday gift he received from a friend. I do understand that he probably wanted to share his blessings, but in a way.. he was being a bit too vulgar about it. He should've just offered it to people coming in his cubicle and not to everyone in the building. Didn't he realize that there wasn't a whole marching band with Santiago when he was handed the gift??? And worse, he didn't even sense the friction and hypocrisy when Keith was complimenting (???) Santiago for his generosity. He added to the damage when he said "yummy blah blah blah."

Keith: He is the manager of this bank branch and I don't understand his attitude at all. It's great how he set Santiago as the example of other superiors but stupid how he started joking around with him. It felt like he was embarrassing Santiago to the hilt! Was Keith insecure of what Santiago has done? (Quick FYI, George comes from a highly influential political family) Does Keith think that Santiago has done this to win George's favor? If so, how immature for him to tackle this issue in that manner!!! Hello, it's only a birthday gift. Plus, why did he need an entire crowd to witness his act of stripping Santiago's pride (or whatever's left of it)????? Is he insecure himself? No, that question's not even worthy of asking... Lemme re-phrase: He is insecure.

Santiago: I asked George how Santiago took all this crap from Keith and he said that Santiago was just quiet and half-smiling in his seat. He didn't speak a word of defense until the 'organizing celebrations and get-togethers' part. George told me that Santiago answered back to Keith that it's not his job to do that, it's the secretary's! Wow, finally... a defense from the underdog. I was actually holding my breath, scared George would reply 'nothing' on our chat conversation.

Honestly, I feel so sorry toward Santiago because it seems like he's being made fun of in a really nasty and rude way. Worse is that his boss, Keith, did it in front of many people. Had George just slid the box of chocolates in a drawer and waited until he got home to devour the contents, this wouldn't have happened. I told George that although he was innocent in this situation, he is the cause of this embarrassment and future ones Santiago may have. Being the George he is, it was only then that everything sank in his system and then started asking me of what to do to make this all up to Santiago.

I simply replied: Grow up.

I am no position to judge Keith at the moment since I have never met or interacted with him. But based on the story George told me, I can tell that Keith has a man's age but a guy's --or shall I say boy's-- level of maturity. He needs a lot of growing up to do. And if the cause of this friction between Keith and Santiago is petty...

.......I'm sure all my readers now understand why my single and most minimal requirement in finding a partner is: being a MAN.