I’m furious. I am nail-spitting, teeth-gnashing, fertility-med-like furious. Allow me to set the scene if I may…

One of the things I do at work is run out during the day to the post office. And as one of the people be-bopping around town in my Volkswagen with my Obama magnet on the trunk, I enjoy the camaraderie I’ve noticed with other supporters. We acknowledge each other in traffic and in parking lots. We smile and we wave. It’s kind of fantastic and makes me less stabby when I’m navigating mid-day traffic.

On Tuesday when I parked at the post office I parked in between two other cars who also had Obama paraphernalia on their vehicles. So I did my normal smile-wave-acknowledge a total stranger thing and IT WAS NOT RECIPROCATED. I was shocked! Being the tough cookie that I am, I choked back my tears and went about my business. But as I was walking back to my car, I noticed that something looked… off. Then I realized what it was. My magnet was MISSING. It had been there that morning! I know because I put something in my trunk that morning and saw it and smiled. Like I always do.

I know what happened. I’m pretty sure I even know who took it. As you are aware, I work for my father’s construction company now. Construction workers are a… notoriously right-wing group. At least in the south. This is absolutely ridiculous and asinine because I could sit them all down and explain to them just why they are making a poor choice for themselves and their families. But I would be wasting my time. So until now, we’ve happily and peacefully co-existed. I leave their rebel flags alone and they’ve ignored my Obama magnet. And when they parked a bobcat in my yard with a bumper sticker that read “Obama 2008: Death and Starvation” I rolled my eyes at the ignorance and ignored it. (For the record… they were doing work at our house, it wasn’t just a random act of Bobcat parking.)

But that’s all changed now. And when I got back in my car at the post office all fuming and hands shaking mad I called Patrick. And told him what had happened. I warned him that I was headed back to the office with a “head full of steam” and if he didn’t want his wife to end up in jail maybe he could throw out the warning that if this was a joke it was done poorly and perhaps if the magnet were on my desk when I got back, I might be convinced to forget the whole thing. Um… I also may have mentioned something about holding paychecks for ransom, I’m not sure. I think I blacked out from the rage. (Obviously I didn’t hold anyone’s paychecks for ransom. As that would be just as wrong as stealing the damn thing in the first place. And I won’t stoop. No matter how badly I want to.)

NOBODY fessed up. I had to buy a new magnet (which I did! with a back-up!). And I’m still pissed. People are such assholes sometimes.