Chapter 36: Ten Things I Hate About Shrews, Part 5

Wow. He can be as nasty online as he is offline.

Now on to the fourth thing Lavian hates about that creep.

***

The fourth thing I hate about him is how he, who works as an HR supervisor for a small construction firm for his day job, let his political biases get to him, and thus he fired anyone who was known to vote for the now-incumbent mayor of the town where I was born in.

The mayor himself was implicated in some corruption scandals, but they were never proven in court. But despite those accusations, he is proven to be an effective leader on his own right.

Two days after the mayor was proclaimed as the winner in the local elections, Juan Miguel posted the following on social media.

Given his overly dramatic personality, I knew he would post something like that.

"I fired my workers who voted for that poor excuse of a mayor.

"I have a day job, and the wage I earned was equally divided with a few construction workers I hired for my house building project. Despite giving them all the facts to have an informed decision… Despite saying that I can't work knowing that the mayor will take over... They just went home to their own nearby provinces, proud that they got some extra money from voting for that mayor. I don't want the likes of them infecting my household."

And of course, there was a mixture of reactions to his post as it went viral. Here are some samples.

"What a pussy. Hope our mayor makes our city better and prove you bastards wrong."

"Hoping for a speedy insurance claim."

"Man, this election is really dividing us."

"Uuhhmm... I don't know what to say about this… This election, man, it really is something…"

"Hate to admit it, but these kinds of actions just reinforce their beliefs in the mayor."

"You might have just pushed them way closer to being die-hard supporters of the mayor. This actually made the supporters of his rival more elitist than they already are."

"Imagine firing working-class people just for voting for him. And people are praising this? Saying let them suffer?

"Disgusting. Sorry, huh, but you are too narrow-minded. Darn it, I'm just thankful that I'm in no way associated with dunces like you."

"You did the right thing! Don't listen to the people who are telling you're wrong. It's your own decision and I respect you for that; whoever disagrees is someone who's trying to break your morals. Never give in to them."

"I really hope this is fake (conspiracy – to place the supporters of the opposition in a bad light). But if true, my two cents on this matter is... I know that emotions are running high right now; and based on your comments, Juan Miguel (if I got them right), you did it out of spite and alcohol. But I hope that as of the time of my reply, you are coming to your senses and are realizing how morally wrong this is. The mayor isn't holding office yet, and you gotta understand that depriving your workers of their means to survive is the worst way to prove a point regarding the choice they've made.

"Also to the comments cheering and giving non-angry emotes, screw you! You don't practice what you preach... promising to get critical if ever your candidate was proven to have done something wrong. Just because the original poster is not working in the government, you shouldn't have let things mutate into this."

"GOOD. YOU DON'T NEED TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH NEGATIVE ENERGY."

"Pettiness doesn't win elections."

"No hate here, huh. But right now, and here in Coquitlam out of all places here on Earth, have I seen someone firing their employees because of political differences. Don't think that I'm invalidating your feelings, not at all. Just saying that I've never heard of this. At work, we're allowed to talk about politics, but we don't really get into heated arguments because of it, let alone using someone else's political choice as an excuse to exclude or fire someone. I'm just… going all… 'wow', that's all."

"You're nothing but a manipulative bastard."

"The original poster is mentally weak… he was already swallowed by his preferred candidate's loss and he was lacking all semblance of logical reasoning. I dare you... cancel out of your life anyone who's even remotely related to the mayor, OK?"

"So, you didn't take pity on their families? You're just sick in the head. What's the connection of our hometown to families of workers you kicked out due to just a difference in political opinions? Do you have mercy on them? I'd love to report your sorry butt to the British Columbia Labour Relations Board."

"You, are you really taking pity on Coquitlam? Or are you taking pity on your ego that was stepped on because your top dog lost the elections? Do you want our hometown to prosper... or do you want your moral superiority to prosper instead? You claim a moral high ground, but you call other people dumb. Hypocrite.

"By the way, I also voted for your candidate, so don't give me that 'are you really taking pity on Coquitlam' rebuttal."

"For someone who hates dictators, you sure exercised your power by unceremoniously firing people because of differing opinions. Isn't that what a dictator does?"

***

I then ask Lavian the most pressing question.

"Did you or anyone else file a complaint against him to the British Columbia Labour Relations Board?"

She answers in a serious tone, "Yes, a few concerned citizens did file complaints on their own. But nothing came out of them, and I suspect that the creep has some connections with someone powerful in the government, hence the reason why those complaints were ignored."

"And the mayor?"

"He also took it upon himself to settle that case once and for all, since he really wanted to clear his name once and for all. But like I've said before, those darn connections even barred the mayor from successfully slapping that creep with a violation of the local labor code."