Friday, August 08, 2014

Please excuse the bad language

I was told off recently by someone I respect and by whom I am slightly intimidated. When being told off I panic; Husband compares me to the fainting goats - except I don't faint and it's my brain that freezes.


Words and sentences become blurred in my mind forming a huge blob-like mass of telling-offness leaving me quashed. It wasn't until this morning, several days later, that I remembered one bit of the reprimand and it suddenly struck me that it was complete bollocks.

It's incredibly liberating to realise that, to suddenly see that I don't need to listen to this crap. No, I do need to listen because some of it is relevant and I need to be aware of it. But this isn't gospel; it's one person's view, badly expressed.

I have now composed a riposte - less witty, more brutal - but I will never deliver it, of course. Any more than I will deliver the rude gesture that I practised (in a very delicate, ladylike and embarrassed way) in the woods.

Not this time anyway.

3 comments:

Leslie: said...

Unless someone is your boss in a work environment, NO ONE has the right to "tell off" anyone else. And even in that situation, there are ways to help someone improve rather than put them down.

I would turn around in his/her mid-rant and quietly walk away. Unless they apologize, you don't need to feel any responsibility to see them anymore! Hopefully, you don't "need" to have anything to do with them.

And don't ever think it's your fault - if you've made a mistake, then it's their responsibility to quietly redirect you, NOT "tell you off."

Liz Hinds said...

Thanks, leslie. x

Trubes said...

Another ignorant idiot Liz, just walk away and tell them to 'kiss it'...
How very dare they upset our very special friend Liz,

love Di..xx