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:: Friday, February 06, 2009 ::

So cry me a river.

Enough is enough, I think.

People seem to spend all their time complaining about one thing or another to the point it feels like a competition about who's got it worse. Now, I like to believe that we're all pulling our own weight, so I'm not really sure why or how to respond to people who do so. Let me explain.

"I've got so much work to do!"

A very typical complaint of a majority of teachers. Now, when I really think about it, there are only so many ways one is expected to react to such a statement.

1) Sympathy - "Oh, that's terrible. Poor you."
2) Empathy - "Yeah, me too! I know how you feel."
3) Problem Solving - "Would you like some help?"

Here's the confusing bit for me. I've offered all three responses before - and I know people don't complain because they want someone to help them. Why? Because they never accept help - they always fudge a bit and finish off with "Er yeh, it's okay, you don't have to."

Fair enough - it's probably because they don't want to be obligated to you for helping them.

Therefore, it can only be inferred that people want empathy or sympathy.

But personally, I don't see the draw. Not anymore.

Yeah, sure, it was nice to hear people feel sorry for you upon hearing you've got to pull 11 hour shifts (though of course, it is plain that it's not ALL that bad if we can get up to things like blogging or surfing facebook while supposedly at work). Empathy, maybe not so much, but a good starting point to drive a movement to ameliorate the situation, i.e. en mass complaint about workload.

Except it never does get to the point. Which is what is starting to grate on my nerves, because sometimes it feels like a neverending emp/symp fest because the work will never lessen, so people will never stop expressing their dissatisfaction.

And well, let's be practical here. Participating in a .... whine festival is not my cup of tea because I get nothing out of it. It doesn't make me feel better. The last thing I want to do after having to wade through my own work is indulge in self-pity. Or even pity for others.

It doesn't make me feel better if you have just as bad a workload as mine. Less if you have a worse workload, unless, you know, I don't like you all that much. So what good is whine to me? I can't eat it or drink it, I certainly don't get energized on it. As a conversation topic, it's a pretty poor way to start because it's like this horrible energy sucking vampire.

:: And that's all she wrote 7:21 AM [+] ::
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