Wednesday, January 07, 2009

The Economy Changes Things...


Yesterday I presented something at a meeting at work.  One of my audience had a meltdown, started cussing and threw my hand-out across the table and called it "shit."  I guess some people can get enough of an education to put PhD behind their name, but not develop much in the way of vocabulary and interpersonal skills...  oh well.  After he was through with his outburst, I spent a few minutes explaining myself.  The chair of that committee later came to my office to check on me and told me I was "brilliant!"  That I didn't take on his affect, and that I had "put him in his place," and put things into perspective for those folks.  

I called the man's supervisor and complained about his behavior.  He makes a lot of money to be actin' like that.  There was another person at the meeting I thought was escalating as well.  Later someone put it into perspective for me... they are both worried about keeping their jobs.  Hmmm.  Somehow I don't think that going off in meetings is going to help their chances of keeping their jobs.  But I could always be wrong.

After I got home from work, I needed to go to my Homeowner's Association board meeting.  This month, the woman who irritated me last month with her arrogance had a whole new attitude.  It seems she lost her job about a month ago and has no idea how she is going to survive.  Her arrogance is gone.  She is no longer talking about taking a chain saw to other people's property (as she did last month).  

I thank God I have a program.  I thank God I have faith.  I thank God that I know that it will be OK no matter what happens.  

It's gettin' ugly out there.   But it doesn't have to be ugly in my heart.

14 comments:

Scott W said...

I thought the bail outs were supposed to change things. Is it really bad out there or is the media just scaring everyone? I have no idea. At least we can focus on the solution!

Pammie said...

Ain't that the truth!
Maybe they thought if they act all scary in a meeting that the powers that be would be too afraid to fire them.
Maybe homeowner lady could pawn her chainsaw for money.
Maybe homewoner lady took a chainsaw to a meeting at her job and got fired.
Maybe my imagination just runs away from me sometimes.
little blueberry muffin.

Trailboss said...

Isn't it nice to be able to control what we keep in our heart. It takes a long time to get there though. It seems to improve with age.

Lou said...

Maybe a lot of people need to lose their job for a week & eat some humble pie. Except for you & me of course.

Syd said...

It sounds as if the man at the meeting has the opposite attitude from a person who wants to keep a job and be part of a "team". It's interesting how the people with degrees (and I have a Ph.D.) can be such arrogant a-holes at times. I can remember the dog eat dog world of being a new untenured Ph.D. Glad that I swapped arrogance for humility.

dAAve said...

The soberer I get, the more I recognize those without a program.

Anonymous said...

Wow, thanks for sharing this. So very true and inspiring. You nailed it. This is my goal and desire as well, to keep it beautiful and peaceful in my heart. I don't want to own other peoples anger, problems...cuz it doesn't really help. This is a lovely example. Thanks for dropping by and for the Merry Christmas. It meant a lot to me. Ditto. I also wish you an awesome New Year. Peace, JLD

Shannon said...

It is great that we can have emotional sobriety! thanks for sharing how you demonstrated that.
Have a great day

Wait. What? said...

When people feel threatened is when we see the poorest choices for behavior I think.

Findon said...

One of the things I have learned is to shut out peoples noise. I never know what they are going through, so it's hard to make a judgement, but that does not excuse bad behaviour. The only way I've been able to deal with such things is to have my own inner scorecard, to keep me safe.

One Prayer Girl said...

Thank you for this post and yesterday's on "Second-hand" sobriety.

I appreciated the thoughts in both of them.

J-Online said...

Great perspective. I've seen attitudes change as jobs are in jepordy; both good and bad. It's scary times but those of us who have God and a Program are the lucky ones.

Unknown said...

Oh I love that phrase you won't be ugly in your heart...how true. Working where I do I see it a lot and it's sad, I just try to understand and am even more grateful for the program.

steveroni said...

Each year our priest picks out a "Lenten" song which the 6,000 or so people learn, and sing many times during those 40 days.

Last season it was "Change Our Hearts"
and I fell in love with that song, and felt my heart changing through that period. It's time now for a renewal of that closeness to God and His will for me.

Thanks for a good post.