I’m working on writing a list of the various types of people you meet.
In life? At work?
Both.

Life is hard, work is hard and then we have to deal with people!

Here are 2 kinds.

Liars

I know this sounds harsh calling someone a liar but,
Do you know I’ve never met anyone who has ever admitted to being a liar.
Oh I know plenty who lie, sometimes daily. To everyone they meet.

Yet I’ve never met an admitted liar. There’s always an excuse.
“I did it for the right reason.”
“I was protecting someone else.”
“You must have misunderstood me.”
And so on.
One thing to keep in mind, liars never accept responsibility. That’s one of the reasons, well, that they lie.

I knew someone like that. From the vault. This actually happened.

This person said one thing to me in my office, to my face, and then just moments later went to the adjacent office to talk to a colleague and said the exact opposite of what I was told!

As if it never would occur to him that the colleague and I would ever converse.

Sometimes, I think they do it because they lack some semblance of esteem and feel they need to puff themselves up. I don’t think it really matters why, it’s more about recognizing who they are.
Eventually the lies compound and they get found out. Always.

Know it alls
Know anyone who always has to be right? Of course you do. It literally is impossible that one can always be right. Yet we all know those who feel the need to get the last word.
To win every argument.

And if it appears their argument may not win the day, they change the parameters.
To make a claim they would be right if this or that would happen.
Why?

Maybe they feel the need to compete.
Perhaps, they need To be number 1, always.
Hard to say for sure.

Everyone has their own sense of reality. What’s real for me, is not necessarily real for you. I remember someone long ago telling me each one of us is 3 different individuals.

The person I think I am;
The person you think I am, and;
The person I actually am.

I do try to keep this in mind whenever I deal with individuals who seem to always feel the need to lie.
Or compete.

I just don’t feel there is a need to deal with those incapable of truth telling. If they lie to me, well, that’s who they are so I try to always be aware that is what they do. It diminishes the value of what they offer. I verify everything.

For those competitive types, it’s simple. I just don’t compete. Wherever I am in my life, personally or professionally, only a small part is due to my own accomplishments.
I try to always think that. Seriously.

I am wherever I am now due to the kindness of others, the patience of others or most likely just plain luck. That’s really it.
So if someone has to get the last word, or feels they are in a death match with me to get the preferred office, parking spot, or get ahead of me with the boss. Well have at it, then. You can always “think” you won.
In my experience, the boss can usually see though them and their tactics.

So with both liars and know it alls, why do I think this? Why this perspective? Why the calm attitude?
I guess part of it is I’m just grateful to be here. Still alive.
I didn’t always think this way. Maybe I’ve matured, maybe I’ve been scarred by experience.
But I try to think this way now.
And I do have to remind myself everyday.

And that’s just from my perspective.

Now what do I think about those folks who always tell everyone how busy they are.
You know, whether they work one day a week or seven, they are just swamped.
And none of them work nearly as hard as we do.
Whenever I think that I just take a deep breath and remember..
Everyone is busy.
No matter if they really are, I just try to think of the 3 person perspective rule above.
And then I try to remember…

Another friend once told me that what he and I did was not hard work no matter how stressful or busy it became. No, he said, working outside digging ditches, that’s hard work.
What we did, no matter how busy or how stressful we were, it was all a choice.
Our choice.

Being busy, being stressed, that’s a matter of choice.
At least it’s not digging ditches.

From my perspective.

JT

Any one remember the O’Jays?
Beware of the Backstabbers!
click the vid link below