Yeah.

I work with three people. Two "bosses" (really, one of the two is the REAL boss -- the head of the company) and the "third" guy who has been here since the spring to do sales. Out of the three, of course, I like the "third" guy the best. Both my bosses are foreign (One is Egyptian and the other is Indian). The "other guy" is Indian as well but waaaaaay more Americanized, so naturally we get along better. I believe my bosses are more sexist and stubborn. It isn't their fault of course. It's due to the cultures they were raised in. So the Real Boss (Sikh Indian) calls me on the phone in the office this morning to tell me that Third Guy's father "expired" and Third Guy won't be coming in. I feel very bad for Third Guy, of course. I also had an automatic sting in my chest when Real Boss used the word "expired" but I also know that it is common to use that vocabulary in many cultures so I let it roll off my back like nothing.

After Real Boss finally arrived today, he had to make some phone calls. After he gets off the phone at one point, he said to me in his very heavy accent, "I don't know with some women who get high in power of things become VERY arrogant and very..." I can't remember the rest verbatim (and yes he does speak that way). I did hear him on the phone though and he did mention that Third Guy is out due to his father "expiring". I told Real Boss that people are different and you never know what's going on on the other end and why people are the way they are. I said "people" on purpose because the mentioning of women offends me a little (even though I wanted to throw a sexist comment of my own like, "Perhaps she is on the rag!" in there). No one sex is this or that way more than the other with many, many things. I also told him that perhaps she got offended by the way he described the passing of Third Guy's father. I told him that *I* understood what he meant, but usually people in this country say "died" or "passed away" and usually the latter of those two. He told me that was "good to know". You'd think 13 years in this country would teach you these things but I guess not always. I think it's very interesting how different cultures refer to death (and things in general). A term someone from somewhere afar uses everyday is something that sounds like when we ask what the date on the carton is to see if the milk has gone sour.