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Anger
goes nowhere fast, deal with
life’s imperfections
Krystle
Ralston
Truer
words were never spoken: mean people
suck. I can deal with stupid and slightly
pathetic people, but mean and nasty
are just a different ball game.
I encounter both multiple times a day at my job working for the YMCA, an institution
I both love and hate. The people I work with are amazing, the pay is decent
and there are no embarrassing hats to wear or dorky songs to sing when you
help someone.
But every rose has its thorns. The people who I come across and still do astound
me, and not in a good way. My friends think I make them up, but I don’t.
People call and ask questions such as, “Are you guys a gym?” “Do
you have weights?”
And my personal favorite, “Are they heavy?”
As frustrating as the job is sometimes, twice as stressful is dealing with
a nasty scowl and a screeching voice thrown into the mix. No easier are parents
who yell when attempting to register for camp the day before it begins after
I tell them it’s full already.
Then they go off on me because they have nowhere to put their child. Or take
the psychopaths who pay $100 a month, not show up for two years, and then ask
for money they can’t get back, which of course becomes my fault.
One of my favorite co-workers, Bruce, was yelled at by a woman because he accidentally
marked on her card that she had taken two yoga classes instead of one. Bruce
is mentally disabled, yet competent, and he’s been working there for
20 years. This small mistake that can be corrected with a half- second-long
mark of a pencil provoked senseless frustration to a mentally disabled man.
It’s as if people like these feel the need to make life so much harder
on themselves and everyone around them. Yelling at a young, broke college student
working part-time to pay off the multiple student loans will not cause her
to move any faster. It only causes resentment and mocking among coworkers for
weeks.
People whose sole purpose in life is to make everyone around them bow down
need to stop and take a look at how their actions and words affect others,
especially to those who have done nothing to deserve it.
It’s been proven that people yelling at those around them, even with
just reason, have a much shorter life span than those with patience and understanding
when placed in nerve-racking situations. Is it really worth making a young
girl cry so you can get your sandwich with no tomatoes? Is it so bad to receive
a decaf latte instead of a regular? I didn’t think so.
Lighten up, folks. We’re just trying to make a living, same as you. If
we do screw up, take a deep breath and reflect. Acknowledge imperfection. Deal
with it. A wise man by the name of John Oliver Hobbes said, “Men heap
together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call destiny.”
Krystle Ralston is a journalism transfer student. |
