I Have The Power....

I have a skill that many people in the world would give anything to have.

I can make people fear me.

The problem is, I neither intend to nor desire to. Instead, I try as best I can to be on peaceable terms with as many people as I can. I go out of my way many times to do favors for people, and show them kindness. Yet wherever I go, some kind of aura follows me that flashes like a big neon sign that says "this guy is trouble, stay clear of him and be suspicious of him." I have no idea what I do to deserve that.

Case in point: this evening I worked in soft-lines. The front-end manager came to check on my progress with my zoning, and she helped me finish, which I was grateful for. Then she mentioned that the soft-lines manager didn't want come check up on me because she's afraid of me. She had asked the front-end manager to do it.

Case in point: a manager at a bank I worked at once told me that some of the tellers didn't want to work with me in the evenings after the lobby closed. She said they were afraid of me.

Case in point: my last job, over at "small Southern-owned dollar store chain who shall remain nameless," all I had to do was walk in the door, and the women in the store would all go rushing in to the manager complaining I was in a bad mood and they were afraid to work with me. One little Mexican girl, April, was incessant with her complaints. The assistant manager, Jessica, went out of her way to lie constantly about me. The cashier, a drug-addicted welfare drunk who spends half her time in the mental ward went around and told people at the other branch stores that I was some kind of psycho (Ha! she should talk!) I know all this because much of it I overheard, and also the customers themselves would often warn me that the women in the store definitely were no friends of mine.

What on earth do I do to these people to make them always want to treat me like I'm some sort of bad guy? W.T.F.?! Rationally speaking, I shouldn't let it bother me, but I really, really, hurt because of it.

There is lemonade I can squeeze from this lemon. Buddha once said "my enemy is my best teacher." When the chips are down in crisis situations, I know just exactly who will be the first people to try and stab me in the back or slit my throat. It will be the people who complain they fear me, for no real reason. Past experience has shown me that, time and again. I probably should thank these people for revealing to me up front who they really are, so I don't have to keep guessing. This way, I can keep a good eye on them and steer clear of them at all costs.

In any case, it seems that I have an unintended talent. A talent that many executives would love to have, a talent I can use in the power game of life. People really should be careful with what they wish for. If they try too hard for too long to portray me as a bad guy, I just may give them precisely what they want.