People are so easily offended nowadays. Sometimes I interact
with people and I’m reminded of my neighbour’s dogs. Cross their personal lines
and they’ll be barking like starved mongrels. One small remark, one simple
gesture can result in nuclear warfare. It’s just funny how sharp the canines
behind the fake smiling lips are. It is almost as if they’re saying “Humour me,
but don’t push it buddy. I bite” Like that moment when you tease someone while
trying to get to know them better and then end up on their wrong books.
In fact this is especially the case when you meet someone
new. Ok, so of course there is a limit to how far you can go with what you say
when you’ve just met someone but then there are people who are just … ‘those’
kind of people.
Like the other day, I met this prominent lady who found me
interviewing someone and bulged in very flamboyantly to chat away with my
interviewee. It took her a while to realize I was there but when she did she
asked for my name but didn’t give me hers. So naturally I assumed she had
forgotten that small bit of the introductory courtesies and I proceeded to ask
her who she was. Her eyes widened in disbelief as if to say “Who the hell is
this guy?’ My interviewee promptly followed with a “You don’t know this lady?”
The response in my mind was “Am I freaking supposed to know who this is?” but
it came out slightly differently; something like “I think I’ve seen her before.”
My interviewee like the loyal little minion he was at that time provided me
with her ever so majestic name; Kabo… something. It was basically a pair of hard
to pronounce kikuyu names. Well, they sure know how to pick ‘em.
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| Larry David in Curb your Enthusiasm |
Then there is this invisible contract I have come to discover
exists when you say you will do something for someone. Once you say yes, it automatically
turns from favour to sworn duty. And sometimes what they ask you to do is not
that easy. “Can you loan me 5000 bob?” Or the classic “Please find me a job“ So
then you say yes and end up answering to their constant nuisance. You didn’t
say when you were going to get them a job. You didn’t even say you’ll find one.
You said you’ll try. “You haven’t yet found one yet? You're not looking hard enough” “’Are you sure you
didn’t delete my number?” All of a
sudden it’s as if they hired you to get them hired.
But what happens when you say you won’t. Like “Would you
take me to teach me French for seven months for free?” No, I don’t think so but hey
maybe you would like to raise my kids for seven months for free. Or “Can you
hold my lady bag for me till we get home?” No, thank you. I d rather hold my
own jacket. It’s just a polite decline. And that’s when the cold treatment ensues.
With the ‘I thought we were friends’ ‘I thought you were a gentleman’ speech.
Honestly I don’t know why people equate hand bags to friendship anyway. And who’s
to say you need French in your vocabulary maybe you’re more of a Korean kind of
person.
But you learn to live with it. Oh yes, you do.
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