Recently, I met a lady who embodied the title of this post. After my first initial meeting with her I left frustrated. I wanted to give her a second chance in hopes that she was just stressed at the moment. In my second meeting with her I had the same experience. She was short, demanding and snarky.
After my second meeting with her I told my friend that I did not care for her that much. He said, “I didn’t notice that she was that bad.” Later the same day he confessed, “You were right. She is mean!” It made me question what was it about her I did not like? In the process of this I came up with a short list of attributes:
- She demanded help rather than asked for it.
- She talked down to people rather than valuing them as a person.
- She seemed ungrateful by never saying “thank you.”
- She was short with people rather than taking the time to explain.
- She walked around frowning rather than smiling. This is not a crime but it’s easier to get help when you’re smiling
- She interrupted conversations rather than letting others speak.
- She was too opinionated rather than seeking to understand others. Proverbs 18:2 refers to this type of person as a fool.
I’m sure all of us have failed at one point in time like this. However, the key is not to live like this and when you do fail to apologize and own up to your mistakes. Overall, I handled this well because I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but Proverbs also says that I would be a fool for doing this!
Yeah, I’ve encountered many of those, the saddest is, most call themselves believers. I run from “folK” like that.
It’s sad, but you are right. It’s unfortunate but she was a believer. I avoided her as well because she drained me.
I meet those people frequently. One thing that helps me, is to realize that hurt people, hurt people. Most people carry a huge hurt around with them. When I feel an offense coming on, I stop and remember “hurt people, hurt people”. It helps me feel compassion for them and their situation. Some people literally CAN’T help but offend because of their past hurts.
This is a good thing to remember. I often ask what happened to someone when I see them acting in this manner.