We live in a time where people easily get offended by literally almost everything, from what you say to even being silent, down to how you react and the like, and with all of these happening, people are at a crossroads of how they're expected to act so as not to offend anyone. But is it even possible to not offend people in our world? Personally I believe regardless of what you do, say, or how you act, people will still get angry and misinterpret you, and that's because people are every bit difficult to please, and that's why below I'll be talking regarding this in detail.
People are prone to getting offended; it's in human nature to go through different forms of reactions and feelings, such as excitement, sadness, anger, offense, and several others to name but a few, and in light of that, we'll come to the understanding that regardless of why you do it, you can't avoid, in one way or another, stepping on someone else's toes. And that's why when I looked at the prompt and saw how it said people could stop airing their opinion just so they wouldn't offend anyone, I laughed because even in our silence and inaction, people will still get offended that we didn't say or do anything.
And that's what leads to my take that we should mostly stop trying to please others just because we don't want to offend them. There are times when what the person demands not to get offended by is something that's their own principle or something that isn't ideal or something against the law. Would you then do such a thing just so you won't step on their nerves to the point where you get them offended? Absolutely not because by doing that, you're breaking many laws and offending not just yourself but the system and many other protocols just so you'll avoid offending one person.
On the contrary, or what might seem like a different alternative, we as individuals must learn to study everyone around us and look for a way to understand them to the point where we know their nature and kind of person, and that can help us stay on their good side or wisely avoid what mostly gets them offended. Although I know some people are just prim to getting offended regardless of what you do, then it'll be limited. Recently I was having issues with my superior at the office because once she gave an order and it backfired, she'd start looking for ways to whitewash herself while leaving those she gave instructions to do the task in the first place to face the consequences of her own orders.
Seeing how her continuous chameleon habits are causing damage to my reputation, I first approached her to let her know the damage her actions are causing to my reputation, but she still keeps up the act, saying she never gave any such instructions, and so I decided to avoid doing most of her instructions that I know might backfire, especially if she didn't sign a written order that shows she's the one who instructed me to do it. Giving her the written document to sign that she gave the order alone got her offended; not doing the job because she didn't sign an agreement also still got her offended to the point where she reported me to higher authority, and that was where I finally got to speak my truth, and they resolved the matter by compelling her to sign any task she gave me to do; if she claims she won't say otherwise later, then it shouldn't be a big deal for her to sign.
Doing what I did still got her angry, because when we returned to the office, it was obvious I was working in a hostile environment. Although I would have loved if we could both work in harmony, I can't because I want to keep her happy and not get offended with me, so go ahead and keep taking the fall for her errors. That's not how to go about things because it'll only put me in trouble, and I could lose my job all because I want to stay with someone.
All photos are generated using Chatgp.
