We all have 'em...
Some of us are fortunate enough to not be married to 'em...
Joe Bftsplk.
Joe is a forgotten soul now... a cartoon character from the old "Lil' Abner" strip that ran on the funny pages of our old newspaper. Nothing good ever happened to Joe. Everywhere he walked, that dark cloud followed and made sure he didn't have a sunny day.
One of the pilots I used to work with reminded me of Joe.
He had married an attractive gal several years his junior. He used most of his savings to buy a restaurant, hoping it would not only be a financial success, but keep his pretty young wife busy (and out of trouble).
You may be ahead of me here... if you have a pretty, young wife, you may not want to leave her alone with a bunch of customers and fellow workers paying lots of attention to her.
He realized his mistake pretty quickly, but with all his savings committed, what could he do?
He'd come in to work, and for half an hour I had to put on my second hat... "therapist".
He moaned about his marriage. He worried his young wife was having an affair with the 20-yr old busboy. He complained about the restaurant, the possible loss of his savings, and contractors not doing prompt repairs.
The situation finally got so bad I said, "Partner, I'll make ya a deal. Tomorrow I'll bring my .357 to work and we can do one of two things-
You put it to your head and blow your brains out, or I'll put it to mine." He'd smile a sad smile and nod his head.
They were divorced within a year, and he lost his job shortly thereafter.
People like this suck your energy.
They're not happy until they have chaos in their lives.
They want you to be "happy" like them too, so they share the turbulence in their lives with you.
It may be my biggest failing as a Christian... as soon as I realize I've found one of these energy-suckers, I separate myself. Sometimes that means avoiding people that are VERY close in your life. That makes it hard, but not impossible to "avoid the drain".
Do you know one of these tapeworms?
How do you handle them?
3 comments:
Pity parties. Don't do them. Usually ask, "Do you want some cheese with that whine"?
The .357 respnse is great.
Same way. DISTANCE... Not worth my time and effort to help them 'manage' their chaos...
"Ignorance is bliss. And as far as your problems are concerned, I'd prefer to be ecstatic". Usually set 'em back some. Other sarcasm applied as needed until they gave up bellyaching to me as a bad job and waste of breath.
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