Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bad Karma

Everyone encounters difficult people. I once heard a minister note that the difficult people a minister counsels are difficult everywhere.

They have to:
  • go to stores
  • to banks
  • come by newspaper offices to place announcements about public events
  • work somewhere and thus be co-workers.
We used to have a couple of people when I was at the paper who had such hair triggers everyone went on alert when they walked in. And everything they ever needed posted as a free announcement went wrong. No one set out to do it, but everyone tried so hard to please them that something went South. Sometimes even the corrections went wrong.

$#!+#{^0$ I Have Known
I had the realization the other day that I know several people these days who do the same things, and yep, things always get messed up.

Recently I discovered myself smoothing over a rift that was years old, a misunderstanding that came after a blow-up that kept some materials owned by one party out of reach for years that could have been put to good purpose.

At the same time we had another incident that went wrong in a domino-like fashion because allowances had been made for another person whose passive defiance had become legendary. Turned out the rule that was waived to accommodate was there for a reason.

Notes to self:

  • Karma is indeed a biatch.
  • Don't be a jerk, or things get screwed up for you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I moved out of the D.C. suburbs because the number of people who felt entitled to their glaring character flaws greatly outweighed the number of normal individuals who had to deal with them.

Charles Gramlich said...

It's weird how that happens but I've seen the same thing.

Stewart Sternberg (half of L.P. Styles) said...

As a difficult person, I am always amazed when people find me so. Difficult people are the heroes of their own melodramas, after all.

Lana Gramlich said...

Difficult people are not permitted on the grounds of The Hermitage. They have been (& continue to be,) permanently ejected from my life. Fortunately I haven't had to work with many for long, but even when I did, I made it plainly clear I wasn't into their shenanigans. I even learned how to put my mom in her place, eventually. Down with difficulty!

Miladysa said...

"everyone tried so hard to please them that something went South"

I understand this so well! lol

Erik Donald France said...

Exactly! I remember a newspaper editor who was horrible to his employees and they were always fearful and making jittery mistakes. The Hyacinth syndrome: Keeping Up Appearances.

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