I'm Just Saying...*

"How would you work with rude people?"

I was actually asked that in a job interview once. I answered, "I'd kill them with kindness." They seemed to like the response because I got the job. I realize now they were protecting their payroll jerks.

If I ever got that question again, I'd answer, "I wouldn't. I'm not working in a hostile workplace. I suppose I'd give the person a chance, everyone has a bad day, but the second time I'd make a written report to HR, the steward, whoever, and not deal with him (and it's always a him it seems) or her again. I will do all in my power to be respectful and kind to my coworkers. I demand the same."

I wouldn't get the job.

Employers have too much time invested in their jerky workforce. It's just too easy to control a "team" when all are bickering and lashing out at each other. A group respectful of each others talents and limitations working together doesn't need management. The Boss doesn't care about your morale. He (and its almost always a he) would rather see you beholden and miserable. Then you jump when snapped at. That's a good worker. It's even better when the jerky workers police themselves.

When someone is complaining about not being appreciated, it's not about being appreciated. Listen, the person isn't liking the process of creativity. Everything is difficult getting to the final product. There is no cooperation, no helpfulness, no friendliness in the drudgery towards the final product. Nothing to lift your spirit to get through another day. People and their rotten attitudes and petty power plays aren't worth it. That goes for all inter-personal relationships.

This rotten system demands miserable people to man its stations. To groom new miserable people to replace them with a new turbo-charged misery. This gives the blamers at the top all the excuses they need to secure their jobs. Happiness, contentment and satisfaction is the last thing wanted as it is unmanageable, as you can't talk sense to young lovers. Your job demands misery and internalized the better. Die at your desk, they will say good things about you.

I hear from everyone I meet how they hate their jobs, then the next sentence is justification on how they have to put up with "the bullshit". These conflicting emotions is what is leading to unwanted stress, heart attacks, strokes, bad life style choices all leading to bad health. First work gets you sick, now the modern employer doesn't even feel a need to offer the care to fix you. People are lined around the block to receive the misery offered and they are so happy to get it.

Striving for a better world begins in your own mind; being brutally honest with yourself and the conditions around you, your internal emotions and appraisal of the people you are with. I suppose working through the problems is possible to change the people around you with your kindness, but how much of a supply do you have when your kindness is considered a weakness to be taken advantage of? Getting off on the right foot in your relationships is what drives the experience and keeping the high ground. It is difficult not be dragged into the muck.