It Doesn't Really Matter

It is strange how the older you get the less you worry about what people think of you.

I have made, and still make, many mistakes. I've had many a fallout with friends through childhood, adolescent, and adult years, been made fun of, been judged, have judged, gotten into arguments and disagreements with people I like, and dislike, been talked about behind my back, talked about others behind their backs, said things I shouldn't have, done things I shouldn't have, and have worried about the repair of every relationship that's been affected by those things.

In your childhood years, it's not so bad. You don't really know who you are, yet. You think you're sure of, but not really aware of, your surroundings, but you aren't mature enough to even understand what real relationships are. You make these friends that you have fun with, play with, and share the same joys with--in the dirt, at the playground or on the sidewalk, but you don't really realize that you'll probably not ever see them again after you go off to middle school, then high school, and evenutually college.

In adolescent years, it gets a little worse. You constantly analyze what someone says about you wondering if you really do have ratty hair and jacked up teeth. You are dying to be popular and take every little thing to heart that someone says about you. You want the boys to like you, you want to fit in with the cliques at school, you kill to make the cheerleading squad and die to make the gymnastics team. If you don't, you look bad, and worry about what people think of you if you don't make it because you have to deal with them, every day of your life, for the next 180 days of the school year. Those relationships aren't easily mended because people at that age don't easily forgive you--tweens are mean and snotty and ridiculing. So, it takes you longer to get over the comments that hurt you, that upset you, and that made you cry because you are constantly pondering on why they said what they said so you can still fit in, which is your one, ultimate goal in mind at that particular period of your life.

As you grow older you realize that what people said about you doesn't mean much. The comments Suzy made about your dress in high school means nothing anymore because you haven't seen her in years, and looking back, neither of you really knew what fashion was anyway. So, as you become an adult you do not take things to heart, as much, if someone has said something about you in the same capacity, or if someone has a certain opinion of you. It could be that they have just not matured fully enough to realize, yet, that every person is equal and God made us with the same beauty as He made our co-worker, boss, partner, teammate, etc. They may not realize that in the grand scheme of life what they say and how they feel about you really don't matter anyway. And since you have come to this realization yourself, you are able to let things go.

Don't get me wrong: it may take longer to get over relationships, as you get older, because a bond you might have made with someone has been broken, but when you get older you don't really care anymore about the piddly things that once mattered when you were younger. You go to work, for work. You make friends because they're good company. You join a team because you want the carmaraderie and competition. You don't worry, anymore, about how someone thinks you look in your wedding tiara because you know it makes you happy for wearing it. And, if they are that concerned with your looks and your presentation and the opinions you make of yourself, then they have obviously not crossed over into the real paradigm of adult-hood and are still stuck behind, lost in a phase of immaturity and temporary rapture.

Rant

If you don't know how to write an email, send an email, find a name in a directory, find a file, send a file, or be polite, then you shouldn't be working in the business world!

Perhaps you had one too many crumpets with your pinky finger raised in the air just high enough to the point that you forgot to put it down and set into reality. This business, as you should know it, is not into having an admin do your work. It is not into outsourcing your personal needs and preferences to someone else within the organization who can better do it for you. It is not about stepping on people's toes to get what you want. It is about being resourceful, tactful, compromising, and decent.

Just because you came in here with fresh ideas and a fresh outlook on processes does not mean you don't have to learn the ones that are already in place. . . and learn from the PEOPLE who are already in place. This is a two-way street, not a one way narrow path. Get with our program before you create one of your own. Have some class, some sense, and some "thinking outside of the box"-ness before you go trying to change, strategize, and implement all things new.

We welcomed you in. Now, help yourself by learning what you don't know before assuming people will know it for you.

Beaten? Nah...