Republican Co-worker (RCW): Well, ol’ [High-Level Manager] is not too happy about [some dumb thing RCW thinks is important].
Libertarian Co-worker (LCW): Really?
RCW: Sure! There’s going to be payback, for sure!
LCW: You’re saying that [HLM] is angry? Well that can’t be true. I ran into him in the elevator today and he seemed like he was in a good mood.
LCW sounded sincere and not sarcastic when he failed to make the connection between the political actions of HLM and HLM’s mood.
I did not think someone could be so naive that they assumed there had to be a connection between a) being polite while being observed in a public space by one’s employees, and b) whether or not that person was going to seek a consequence for a political decision that had been made.
It’s almost… childlike. Is that a lack of awareness or of empathy?