You laugh when something is funny

Here's something to think about. Just an amusing story.

So Mrs. Pike pointed out the other day that I have a knack for getting stuck around people with annoying laughs. Her point developed from some occurances that took place over the course of a few weeks.

I recently started a new job and like most jobs in corporate America these days I am in a cubicule all day and my company has people from various different nationalities. There is a high percentage of Russian/Slavic employees in my general vicinity at work. There is one guy in particular who seems to be the focus and gets regular visits throughout the day from his friends. Now I have no idea what they are talking about because they speak all in Russian (at least I think its Russian but it could be another Eastern European language). That's not the issue, people chat, that's the nature of life. You want to get away from the daily grind. Some blog (hello!) and some chat with co-workers. The problem is that the guy on the other side of my cube wall giggles. Not in the cute school-girl fashion but in an annoying, breathy, wheezing fashion. Mrs. Pike and I have come to call them the Giggling Russians (as in, "Yes, dear its been a tough day and to top it off the Giggling Russians are at it again). I don't begrudge his right to laugh, we all have it. It's just he tries to talk while laughing (or giggling, or wheezing, or whatever you want to call it). Have you ever had a friend who tries to tell a joke and laughs through the punch line? It ruins the joke.

That was evidence one. Evidence two came a couple weeks ago when a new woman was hired here. She seems like a nice enough lady. Very loud and boisterous on the phone (you know the type). Once again, not the issue. She cackles. That snorty laughing cackle. The kind when you want to laugh but realize you should keep it under control but can't so it just keep slipping out. It's just a hideous sound.

To finish the evidenciary trifecta. I went to the movies last weekend (saw "Rambo...yes it was cheesy and poorly acted but if you loved movies #1 & #2 then you have to see this one...its the John Rambo we've all come to know and love and it puts a nice little bow on the series). I tend to like to sit a little apart from other people to feel like I'm the only one watching. It doesn't always work but sometimes it does. I have a row all to myself with no one in front or behind. Then about 2 minutes before the previews start an older couple come in (probably in their late 50's). The woman sits right behind me two seats down from her husband and they decide to talk and she has this little laugh that sounds almost like someone going "ooooo" in a very small voice. Once the movie starts she continues a little conversation with her husband. Making comments as the movie begins. The movie shows video footage of atrocities in Burma and she makes "tsk, tsk" sounds like she is chiding a small child. When I finally realize that she's not going to stop I moved down the row to a point that I could not hear her anymore.

It the span of about three weeks I was surrounded by some of the oddest (and most annoying) laughing I had ever encountered in my life. It was just a bizarre sequence of events for me and when Mrs. Pike made the comment I just decided I needed to share. So to the Giggling Russians, the Cackling Secretary, and the Tsking Asian Lady, this laughs for you.