I come from a community (peaceniks) who make some pretty broad ranging assumptions about personal space. And while I'm Steph when it comes to hugging people I know and like, I've had to learn some hardcore deflective tactics.
Even in the lawyer's office, after I gave a new hire a dressing down for inappropriate behavior, she came at me with the 'let's hug it out' thing. I was struck how successful she must be in manipulating people into giving up their space after she 'misbehaves'. The hair stood up on the back of my neck...literally.
And while I felt good about offering a life lesson in how much that isn't going to work all the time in her young life. I was amazed by how long it took to get my point across. She stood there, arms thrown wide for a full 3 minutes. And then looked completely confused that it hadn't worked.
Ok. So Joe has this saying, "When life hands you lemons, lob them effers at life's head."
He went to Comcast today to do some apptitude test. Grammar, spelling, basic ethics. Totally aced it.
He takes the test to the person, she grades it and says, "According to these results, it appears that you wouldn't be a good fit in a high pressure call-center. Thanks. Have a good day."
Needless to say, Joe was pissed. So, he lobbed a lemon. He said, "I used to work for AIG Sunamerica in variable annuities. It's 6 weeks of training just to get the basics down. I often took over 100 calls a day, dealing with customer questions about variable annuities - which are very complex - and their retirement accounts - so they're already stressed out. I got consistently high marks for our QA department. Your test is wrong and this is why Comcast has a poor reputation for customer service." He turned on his heel and walked out.
He came home feeling pretty bad and defeated.
Fast forward 4 hours.
Same woman he lobbed the lemon at called and said, "Uh...it was your availability that threw off the test. Are you more flexible?" Joe said, "Yes."
He has an interview with them on Wednesday.
I told him he should have cold-cocked her and got a Vice Presidency.
Go, Joe for standing up for himself!
Weirdly enough, I'm finding that my cranberry pill ingestion is improving my heartburn. Which isn't why I started taking them every day, of course. My stomach gave me a lot of grief. It's funny the levels of discomfort you can learn to accept as "normal" and not notice till they are gone.
Fela has come to this as well. Looks like he has insufficient stomach acid, rather than too much. And that his wildly unappealing physical issues like snorking, snoring, spitting, belching, high pitched voice, heartburn and poor digestion are all related to a deviated septum that went undiagnosed for 40+ years. He says the symptoms were so much a part of his life, he didn't even notice them.
After a year and a half of pushing on my part, he's scheduled for surgery at the end of the month. I'll help him through that, even in light of the break up. Then? He'll be all fixed and go off to have a healthier, happier relationship with someone else.
Just call me the Bob Vila of dating.
t /bitter
"I don't shake; I hug!"
"I don't hug; I stabinate."
Go, Joe for standing up for himself!
Heh. I don't think that's an issue for him.
Actually, in normal job situations, it's hard for him. He's not that gressive about stuff and often undersells himself. But when he gets het up with dumb stuff like this, watch out for flying lemons.
Of course, I've told y'all about the tone-deaf assholes who insist on head-pats despite my "die, die, die," facial expression. But I don't think huggers really know how overwhelming they can be, and how-the-opposite of healing and warm that can feel when you don't have the chance to give in properly.
I don't know why they insist...hugging somebody who doesn't feel like it is like embracing salad tongs.(grandma made me look warm and cuddly, yo. *serious* Danish Reserve)
