Hello Hivers!
Today's Day 6 of 30 Day Blogging Challenge by @tegoshei calls for our Top 5 Pet Peeves. I honestly haven't written anything in the past related to this topic before.
Bête noire is a French idiom, literally translated as Black Beast. It refers to a person or a thing that is disliked or avoided. French synonym to Pet Peeve.
- Self entitled shoppers who cut queues and refuse to wait in line like everyone else just because they feel they could get away with it.
Sorry but not sorry, I will not let this go. I will be the annoying Tita (Haha) who will scold and make a fuss and complain to the cashier and rouse the other people waiting in line if the said person attempts to cut in.
- Misogynists and Racists
I had the opportunity to meet a CEO client who once refused to shake my hand, accept my business card, and talk to me straight just because I was a woman. He directed his complaints to his staff, while I was there in the room, as to why they arranged this meeting with a woman and not a man. To add salt to the wound, I drove four hours return for that meeting on a weekend. I handed that account back and told our director that I will never work with rude male chauvinists ever.
- People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder who has Integrity Issues
Sorry, I took a bitter pill. I am an NPD survivor so I could sense them at a glance. I immediately know who to avoid. Unfortunately, fate intervened where I had to work with someone despite the warning signs. I suppose my optimism wanted to give this person the benefit of the doubt. My family and I ended up getting burned and stabbed behind the back by this said individual. It took me quite a long time to finally let go and forgive this person but mostly, I was angry at myself for not listening to the warning signs and for allowing myself to let my guard down.
- Lazy, Inefficient and Incompetent Co-Workers Who Like to Play the Blame Game
I had a colleague once from another department who was designated to work with me on a special assignment. I was given the directive by our CEO to request help directly from this colleague whenever I needed assistance because the task was urgent and important. Nope, each time I needed him to work on something, he required me to email his supervisor first and wait for his approval before he acts on anything.
In another previous job, we were in an all girls interior sales department headed by a fatherly yet really cool boss. One of the girls was new and refused to become a team player. Her career focus was on shopping, partying and elevating her social status. It's normal to want all of these things. However, to spend office hours booking restaurant and night club reservations and chatting for hours on the landline with her friends, while ignoring the tasks at hand was driving our team nuts. It was a working environment that required the whole team to put in late hours in order to accomplish sales targets. As I was responsible for training her, the last straw was when I asked her to print and scan an invoice for her to learn how to do it. Her reply to me was, " Oh, I'm feeling too sleepy to do it, I'm heading home." With that, she picked up her belongings and left the office 5 minutes before 5pm. Our jaws dropped and could hardly believe what just happened. She was transferred to another department the following day.
I am also annoyed when a meeting drags on, going round and round, kissing arses, with participants darting blames and drafting excuses instead of brainstorming and creating proactive solutions.
- Poor Customer Service
"I'll call you back in 5 minutes." After 5 minutes, your phone stays silent. 24 hours later, still no text and no phone call. I could go on and on. I believe all of us could relate to this at one point or another.
On the other hand, I met an employee in a telecommunications company not far away who was such a gem. She was excellent in customer service. When you find someone like that, it just makes your day much brighter. She seemed to have been either snatched by another company or moved on to greener pastures. Not being able to deal with someone like that anymore is such a big loss.
My Conclusion
My apologies if today's post turned into a rant.
Growing older, I have realized that I can't control other people's behavior. I am also starting to care less and less. I am intuitively recognizing signs on what would be more proficient and effective for me. I then gravitate towards people that I value and appreciate them.
I can only control how I emotionally react to stressors and which action to take in a particular situation. I can't change them. I can only change my own perspective. The above experiences and pet peeves taught me many things about myself, but I still have so much learning to do.
Check out previous posts if you haven't read them yet and please join us in the 30 Day Blogging Challenge:
Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5