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Monday, October 11, 2010

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much


I rarely talk about my pet peeves on the blog. Not that I don't have any but who wants to read about all the things that bother me? I don't but this particular peeve has been on my mind for a while and I figured once I blogged about it, I could let it go.


People in general like to complain and some do it more than others and even better than others. I worked with a woman, who was divorced and absolutely bitter. When I met her she was in year like 14 of being divorced. And yet complained about everything. I nicknamed her Grouchy because you rarely could make her smile. She used vulgar language (in the office) and yet because the company I worked for was too scared to fire her, she stayed in her position. Granted, she was good at what she did, she just wasn't great at interacting with others.

I don't get people like this, instead of spending so much energy being angry and bitter, why not channel it into something good? Her co-workers where happy when they pulled into the parking lot and her car was NOT there. She didn't have many friends and truth be told you didn't want to get close to her, as she sucked your positive energy into her negative one.

Then there are the ones that complain about working and money. They work and work and work and never seem to be able to get ahead. And then you realize that they work so they can keep up with hobbies or vacations or keep their kids latest gadget obsession on track.

All these things are more important then their sanity. So day in and day out they complain about having to work or how much they work or how many jobs they have. It's never-ending. And if you try to tell them that maybe if they downsized or took one less vacation or had a cheaper hobby...you are the crazy one. Never mind that they are driving YOU crazy with the complaining. You just want to tell them to get over it, if they want things, they will be working until they have a foot in the grave.

These are the same folks that don't take care of their health, complain about the healthcare system and yet they have a brand new >insert expensive, latest IT thing here>. They can't be bothered to save their lives but they sure know where to find the latest and greatest.

I am not saying that people should just keep things to themselves complaining is part of our nature. We do it to vent, we do it to feel like part of the crowd. And we ALL do it. I just wonder if certain people put as much effort into being positive as they did to complain what they could accomplish?


How about you? Know any perpetual complainers? Ever told someone to stop complaining?

3 comments:

  1. I never had to tell someone to stop complaining, but I did have to "unfriend" someone on Facebook due to their complaining. Every single status update, SEVERAL times a day, was a complaint, gripe, a woe as me, or a beg for someone to loan her some money because she didn't have enough to get cigarettes and she was threatening to be "mean" if she didn't get a smoke "now". I couldn't take it anymore and she was seriously bringing me down! I can't stand habitual complainers.

    I just complained a bit in this reply, huh? :P Such is life! Great post though! :)

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  2. Ugh... complaining drives me bonkers. But I know I do it... I just try to limit it to so many items per day or week or... Or at least temper the complaint with a couple "but these things are good" kind of idea.

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  3. Complaining does drain others and I try to stay away from complainers-although I am guilty sometimes. From a great book I just read, it all comes down to being a Winner or a Whiner. One is successful in spite of circumstances and one is stuck because of circumstance. Loved your post.

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