Reading while dead

Reading while dead

Thursday 29 August 2013

An observation on sulking

Over the Summer Squall I worked with a couple of people I find rather hard work - and many whom I really like... but the one I found hard work was the one who sulked.  It began reasonably well, but things deteriorated - the whys and wherefores are not particularly necessary - although I know some people would like to hear the details.  Most of the unpleasantness occurred between her and my colleague on Saturday - I managed to avoid her ambit on Sunday and Monday, but at Tuesday I was back at her establishment.  I was not looking forward to seeing her - noticed she was wearing some hideous shoes and said admiringly "Wow - X____ , what amazing shoes!"   She blanked me.  I made another attempt a little later on but she did the same so after that I contented myself with smiling and staring out of the window in "a superier way" as Daisy Ashford would have said.  Meanwhile X was marching about - that particular way of stepping to show one's annoyance - it works better for men - doing it in yellow plastic shoes doesn't quite have the same effect, petulance rather than authority is conveyed.

I was glad to leave her ambit, and I was both amused and disappointed that she felt sulking was an appropriate way to behave.  Sulking is childish, that goes almost without saying, it is a way of attracting attention, a demand that others placate you.  It sort of works in children, because you want to jolly them along out of it - but as a strategy it does not work on people who don't love you, or care that much about your good opinion.  On the whole, I can think of few people whose good opinion I care less about.  I wonder if she will cross me off her invitation list.  It is a shock when people perform a great fall in your estimation.  I started the weekend with one view of her, and ended it with another.  I wasn't personally involved in any of the aggro on Saturday, but to see such unnecessarily unpleasant behaviour was shocking.

What we did at the weekend will have brought her advantages and footfall to her business.  She probably had more people there on Saturday than had been in the place for the last month.  Perhaps that's why she was cross.  

1 comment:

  1. 14 months later and she has finally spoken to me - she said "Hello" but never have I seen the word escape from the barrier of her teeth so reluctantly...I nearly laughed out loud! Should you be admiring the metaphor, it is Homer's...

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