The World is a Mirror, Part 18

A is for ATTITUDE
B is for BREAK PATTERNS
C is for CONSISTENCY
D is for DISCIPLINE
E is for EVOLUTION
F is for FRIENDLINESS
G is for GOOD WITH NAMES
H is for HAPPINESS
I is for IDEAS
J is for JOY
K is for KNOWLEDGE
L is for LAUGHTER
M is for MUNDANE
N is for NAMETAGS
O is for OFF BUTTON
P is for PAINT YOURSELF INTO A (GOOD) CORNER
Q is for QUICK
R is for RUDE PEOPLE

This week I gave a talk to a group of business owners at the annual meeting of the National Potato Council. They were an awesome group!

As usual, towards the end I revealed several of the downsides to wearing a nametag.

This list included, but wasn’t limited to:

*Complete strangers making fun of me
*People starting fights with me
*Hate mail, prank phone calls and rude IM’s
*Stalkers
*Anonymous online death threats

The list continues to grow. It makes very little sense. And I’ve been trying to figure it out for years.

Who DOES this kind of stuff to someone whose intentions are clearly positive?

I’ll tell you who: someone who has issues of his own.

Anger. Aggression. Resentment. Fear. Ignorance. Insecurity. Jealousy. Weakness. Whatever you want to call it. These people are just plain rude! (90% of these people are men. Interesting.)

LESSON LEARNED: if someone acts rudely to you, it speaks more about him than it does about you.

A few other gems I’ve learned along the way are…

“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” (Eric Hoffer)

“Fear is the parent of cruelty.” (James Anthony Froude)

“Envy and resentment may be motives for bullying.” (Wikipedia)

“Aggression is directed to and often originates from outside stimuli, but has a very distinct internal character.” (Wikipedia)

“Some people learned their manners from sitcoms. They believe in the myth of the ‘funny rude’ person. These people are those self-appointed clowns who try to get a laugh at any price, and of course the easiest way to get laughs is to insult others. They haven’t yet discovered that the price of rude humor ranges from hurt feelings to divorce proceedings. On television, the victims of insults never get offended, never harbor hurt feelings — how conveniently lucky for the insulters. But in real life, psychology doesn’t work that way.” (J.E. Brown’s paper called Why Are People Rude?)

In the end, some people are just going to be rude to you. Even if it has nothing to do with you. Guess you just have to shake ’em off.

I just think it’s funny that a stranger (who clearly hates my guts) will take a half-hour out of his day to write me hate mail.

Who’s the crazy one now?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What motivates people to be rude?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Post your hypotheses here!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That Guy with the Nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

add to del.icio.us * digg it! * email this post