If only I was higher up in the world

One of the guys I worked for who was a senior associate at the company I just finished this 4-month internship with kind of pissed me off recently. Unfortunately, there's nothing to be gained from expressing how pissed off I am so I'll just swallow my pride.

The last day of my internship, I was cleaning up my office and I had a humongous amount of stuff to take home. I was taking public transportation home that day and I can't tell you the strain on my back from carrying everything in my bag. In addition, I was carrying an extra pair of shoes and winter snow boots in my hands. I asked a coworker of mine who's a senior associate (ranks somewhere between executive and normal person) if he wouldn't mind taking a book to the library for me since he lives in Arlington as well. He initially said no, but I said that I was carrying a lot of stuff home so he said ok.

Well, anyway, he agreed to do it but here's the controversial thing about the book: It was a series of interviews by Playboy Magazine of movie directors. There were absolutely no nude pictures or anything remotely inappropriate. As hard is it is for people to believe, I don't even read playboy. I only became familiar with Playboy's in-depth interviews from Lexus Nexus searches of interviews back when I took film courses. The book I brought to work one day and left it there mostly as something to read in the bathroom (again, not as dirty as it sounds).

So this guy responds by sending a mass email to the other coworkers with the title Wow on Orrin: "WOW…all I have to say is, WOW.
The fucker came in my office just now and said, “Rob, you live in Arlington, Can you return my book to the library for me?”
After an exchange of many words, and reminding him that he too lives in Arlington, I agreed to return the book for him…the title of the book you may ask:
The Playboy Interviews: The Directors.
I shit you not…
WTF…I am afraid to touch it."

I barely remembered I still had access to my company email account which is lucky I caught this.

As you can see, my problem is that this guy (let's call him R) is not a stringent by-the-book follower who has a stuffy aura of formality about him. He's actually a pretty cool guy. He got more drunk than anyone at the company party. He's been pretty cool to me most of the time I worked there. Which might just be the worst possible combination here because he dissaproves when the lowly intern does something wrong but he doesn't follow the formal channels of reprimand, like filing some report where I might be able to defend myself. Instead he just sends a mass email a la Steve Carell in The Office of: "Funny news of the day: The intern gave me this."

So I emailed him back and was like "Rob, did you send this to everyone in the office? I'm a little concerned now" and reinstated that it was merely a book of movie directors (not Pornographic movie directors) as anyone could see by looking on the back cover....

Anywy I write him and he says, blah blah blah:
"Orrin;

It is fine…you don’t have anything to worry about. Regardless of the content of the book, it was a playboy publication; that was my only point…I don’t support that. Regardless, like I said, you don’t need to worry…you aren’t going to get fired; and no, I didn’t send it to the company. I just hope it was a good read.

I will offer you a suggestion for your next career move though; it is not in your best interest to bring that type of material to an office (and you know this). Orrin, if you didn’t know it was inappropriate for the office, you would not have written your last line in the email you sent me. Please be mindful of your actions in the future at the next place you work…not everyone is as laid back and accepting as the _________ team. I would hate for you to be in a bad situation in the future due to similar actions.

Best to you.
~Unnamed employee"

Well, that was helpful and as I said he is a cool guy, he's not like a jerk, but I still disagree with him because I wasn't taking a Playboy Magazine. Anyone could have seen what it was by looking on the back cover and if he had a problem with it, and if he really had my best interests at heart, would he have mass emailed the company about it? But that's the slightly annoying thing: there's no reason to voice this and alienate someone higher up than me. That's the game we play. The boss is always right.

What I think is kind of funny about this situation is that I checked at the library and it said I had a late fine because that book hadn't been returned. I asked him where it was: "Orrin-it is in my new office to be unpacked. I would not worry about your thoughts of what other W+A staff think...you had the book at the office and most people know you had the book at work and saw it. Also, I really do not think you should continue to use this email address...it is a W+A email address."
So, he is reprimanding me for having that unholy book in the office when the book has been lingering around in his office for over a week now? Also, by "unpacking" he means that the company renovated offices recently and everyone was supposed to pack their stuff to be moved into another room for a day while a crew paints their office and then they bring it back unpack it two days later.

So he was consciously cleaning out his office and didn't think "this monstrosity must be removed from my office and brought to the library at once!" but packed it into a box instead of items marked with his name for the two female administrative assistants to move to other room and back. Oh, plus I'm not allowed to use the company email to ask these questions? How was he using the company email appropriately.

Oh yeah, and I'm still accumulating fines on it.