When I was younger, even just a couple of years ago, most of my poor judgment could be blamed on inebriation. My dating faux paus were blamed on things I said while drunk or people I met while drunk. However, lately I haven't been drinking and yet my poor decisions are still around. It's actually made me a little worried.
Case in point: About four times in the last week I have spent time with or heard things about people that I had met on a separate occasion. They seemed like cool, fun, funny people who I would get along with. However, upon a second glance I realized that I was so very wrong.
One repeatedly said a cliche at moments just opportune enough to let the punchline zing. However, in most cases it just fell flat and I had to do the patented fake laugh. Usually reserved for work functions, the fake laugh is my business best friend. In this case it kind of backfired because while fake laughing, my mind drifted to something that was actually funny and the combination of the two laughs mixed to produce a fake laugh of epic proportions. This only encouraged the comment to be made several more times and my judgment to be called into question.
The second person was not so much labeled fun to hang out with as a non-threat, meaning she would not repeat things said in her general direction to people they were said about. Luckily, I had not made the mistake of trying that one out, but rather learned the lesson vicariously through someone who had been burned. Yet again, though, my ability to make a call on a person was totally off.
Three people lied and I bought it. Although in my defense one of these used a massive amount of tears which just made me uncomfortable enough to believe the lie to get them away from me.
Am I getting less astute the older I get? Is my sharp wit dulling with age and fake laughs? Am I being naive? What's the fine line between healthy skepticism and negativity? How about niceness and gullibility?
2 comments:
Your fine wit is being dulled by the working environment, where the bullshitters are successes, and the hard workers get laid off with no compensation. You're taught growing up that honesty and trust matter; then once you're out of college, you learn that the only way to "get ahead" in a work environment is to keep quiet about the injustice going on everyday around you and make nice with the people you never would outside of work.
Don't worry, you're just turning into the corporate lemming that America has conditioned you to be. The powers that be wouldn't have it any other way.
Wow, I hear the Debbie Downer music playing in my head...
Trust me, these aren't thing that I haven't already thought and been depressed about. I'm majorly bummin' and need a good pick me up. However, chicken tenders have made me happy and that's a dangerous thing.
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