For educational purposes, I thought perhaps I’d put some recently heard “Listen to ME!” precursors out there in an effort to help those who find themselves trapped in ego quicksand out of ignorance.
“Trust me, I…” know, did, saw, participated blah blah blah. Fill in the blank.
Huh. *squints* Because…. This time you’re telling the truth as opposed to all the other times when you were lying to me? These people have seen it all, read it all, and done it all...and better than anyone else. The variation on this is “Believe me, I…”
“You don’t understand…”
Don’t tell me what I do or do not understand. You don’t know me well enough to make that determination. If you did, you would think twice about that tone you're using.
“What you don’t know is…”
Really. I don’t know. I just offered my opinion on my favorite style of egg preparation, political platform, or this years block-styling on the Paris runway, and now you’re going to tell me that I didn’t gather enough information for a valid viewpoint? You do not know what experience went into the formulation of my opinion and I'll thank you to keep your assumptions to yourself.
In other ego news...
The Egomaniacal Boss. Cripes. We’ve all had them. We’ve all hated them. We’ve all tolerated them until such time as we were forced to transfer. No words of advice here except, smile! It’s not forever, it’s just for now.
The Egomaniacal “Friend.” This is the one who is jealous of all the other people in your life so she bad-mouths everyone, whispers about you behind your back, and spends a ridiculous amount of time manipulating situations so she will somehow look like a “hero” through it all. *heavy sigh* All I have to say about this ego is, “move along. People are only nice to you because they have to be.”
Your Friend’s Egomaniacal Child. Best bet here is just not to visit. I cannot tolerate the presence of a child who is under the misbegotten impression that their imaginary needs and subsequent temper tantrum are going to move me past my desire to smack them upside the head. Children should be seen and not heard. Preferably not even seen, but one can only insist on so much.
I’m bored with this topic now. Talk amongst yourselves…
