I can't pretend that I'm nice all the time. And maybe there *is* no difference between me and the person who yells out the car window at passers-by.

There is a difference. And you even said it:

But I know enough to not say unkind things to people, even if I can't help but to think them.

I think unkind/bitchy/catty/mean things aaaaaaaaall the time. Everyone does. But the important thing is not going up to people and saying the unkind thing you just thought about them.

ita, I saw an article the other day about new and emerging treatments for migraines. I didn't read it thoroughly, but I thought I'd pass on the link, if you want to give it to your doctor: [link]

I have just discovered I have a trepanning squick. I couldn't surf away from that page fast enough.

I think unkind/bitchy/catty/mean things aaaaaaaaall the time. Everyone does. But the important thing is not going up to people and saying the unkind thing you just thought about them.

Exactly.

Happy birthday, Fred Pete!

99% of the worlds' people are assholes.

Today was spent mostly with one of the developers who is... I don't know. I think he's hilarious. But anyway, I kept cracking up because he kept apologizing for being so bullish/blunt in my presence. I was like, have you met me? Where do these people get that I'm some sort of easily offended fragile flower? I spent years dealing with irate people with no social skills, bitching me out personally, and running interference between them and these guys, who could not deal with them for 5 seconds. My workskin is a mile thick and that of a rhino. Besides, I ADORE blunt when it comes to work internals. Let's me know exactly where I stand. And it isn't as if I haven't been dealing with the team for, oh, TEN YEARS, without problems.

"It's because you are always nice."

Um, ok. Nice!= easily offended.

Hey, provided he didn't miss the flight to Dallas, my dad is in El Paso, probably in the car headed home. Yay! I might get to talk to him tonight!

Nice!= easily offended.

More like the opposite, wouldn't you say? Especially at work -- I see more bullshit carried out because people think there's some vendetta against them or someone's trying to do something to them or whatever. Meh -- when you let everything roll off, you can go back to getting shit done!

Cool. I was just given an ipod shuffle in appreciation of overtime. This comes a day after the "rumors" that my position is disappearing Sept 1st. I'll take the music, but the man can't buy my soul.

And I understand why Barb my get irritated about discussing assholedome. But it really does it serve a purpose. Short of falling into the eleven years olds routinely machine gun people that happens in war zones sometimes, generally there are limits on how far the assholes go. Knowing what those limits are and are not can be useful in a variety of ways.

There is a story I heard about in an economics textbook, not funny but just illustrative of somebody making a modest profit by understanding the limits how much she could and could not trust people in her local community. It seems an apple farmer in New England had a small roadside stand, where she left unattended baskets of apples and fresh (non-alchoholic) cider with a price lists. She figured most people who bothered to stop by a rural New England roadside stand were not going to drive away without paying. The few hits she took would be cheaper than hiring someone to stay in the stand. But the money was deposited through a slot she had drilled into a big heavy safe. She wasn't going to tempt people by making it too easy to pick up the money and drive away. She knew her area well enough to know what kind of assholes she did and did not have to deal with. And given human variation, that is a really useful thing to know - and not just for people running apple stands.