Ratzilla Meets the Press

When I bumped into the doorman of our Madison Avenue headquarters this morning, he was pointing his cigarette skyward. Towering above us was what looked like one of those huge inflatable rats, perched atop a black pickup truck. A rat! How delightful! "Nah, I think it's a gorilla," said the doorman. Indeed, while the bloated body, curled tail and pointed claws belonging to the typical union rat, this thing has got the distinctive low-browed, snub-nosed face of a gorilla.

"Did you see the monster?" our receptionist asked when I arrived on the 16th floor.  I headed back outside for another look, and Franklin Ortega, a member of Laborers Local 78, was handing out flyers, stood ready to offer elucidation. He confirmed that it was a gorilla. The unions use gorillas, rats, and cucarachas (cockroaches) interchangeably. We were getting bored of those rats, and we feel that its evolution into some sort of urban satyr may be a sign of Darwinian progress.