Part of our admin training at work this year was the idea of “thank, don’t apologize”. Say “thank you for helping with [x]”, not “sorry you had to do [x]”. Thanking people makes them feel appreciated, while apologizing makes something (either your actions or the job) look bad, which doesn’t encourage positive feelings.
This is not my story. This was told to me by a woman I knew from work several years ago; she’s a very sweet nurse.
Nurse graduated from nursing school and decided with her friend to
move to one of the cities that was listed as having “the most eligible
bachelors” from some publication. She moves and starts dating her future
husband.
Future Husband’s mother is a viper and decides Nurse is not good
enough for her family. The happy couple eventually get engaged and
future mother-in-law is having none of it. Tries for several months to
break them up; tries to convince Nurse to go back where she came from
and simultaneously tries to gently convince her precious son that Nurse
may not be good for him.
To add some more context to this situation, this MIL is pretty nasty
to Nurse but hides it well to other people, always making sure she’s
super (fake) sweet to everyone when others are around.
Finally wedding plans are set so MIL gets desperate. She gets Nurse
alone with a “generous” offer: leave fiance and never come back in
exchange for $10,000 (note: this was almost 30 years ago so I guess it
was kind of a shitload of money for most).
Nurse is so sick of this woman’s shit and is incredibly insulted.
However, she’s intelligent and maintains her composure. Nurse accepts
the offer.
Nurse takes the money, does not leave, and gets married anyway. Nobody else knows about this.
MIL cannot say or do anything about it without exposing herself to her family as a horrible person.
Nurse and husband are still happily married; their kids are grown; husband still has no idea this went down.
MIL has suffered silently for almost 30 years.
I reblog this every time I see it, because it’s a Machiavellian power move AND I LOVE IT!
Pro tip: if an evangelical stranger approaches you asking to pray for you, there’s inevitably something about you that they see and want to change. [Ex: I attend a very conservative, very religious uni and am clearly tomboyish/lesbiany, and thus am constantly attracting evangelical strangers] If you can’t shake them (usually very difficult), then turn the tactic upon them by asking if they mind you leading the prayer bc “I have a few things on my mind.”
Then talk about whatever it is that’s making them uncomfortable. I ask god to protect all the lgbt+ kids that are lost, isolated or homeless. I mention my non-Christian brothers, sisters, and siblings that have to fight for recognition and respect in a monoreligious nation. I pray for the protection of immigrants and refugees, reminding my evangelical friends that their savoir was once one of that number. You can pray for pregnant mothers to find the resources and abortive care that they need, if they need it, if you’re feeling particularly brave.
This achieves two things: 1) there is no response to this, esp if you wrap it up with “amen, thank you guys so much for doing that with me. I hope y’all have a blessed day” and leave them no room to continue the prayer. But more importantly 2) that group will NEVER bother you again and you will show them, using their own method against them, that their prayer isn’t an act of faith, but of power.
Just thought I’d share bc I know that I used to be accosted by evangelical strangers once a week on my uni campus and never had a good response or ‘out’. This is by far the most effective method of shutting that sort of behavior down real quick.
Jesus could be a passive-aggressive son of a G and this is right out of his playbook.
my fav thing in wildlife research is the concept of animals being “trap happy” meaning the same animal goes into a trap on purpose again and again after it’s caught the first time bc it was like “hey…..there was food in there and Zero (0) predators and then they just let me go in the morning…….”
on one hand it fucks up our data but on the other hand……..I Get It you Funky Little Rodents
if it were pouring rain on my walk home from work at night and I found a big metal box full of pizza and a bed where no one else could bother me and the only condition is that in the cold light of day I’d have to face a bunch of scientists weighing me and then letting me go on the sidewalk I’d probably end up in there a lot.
how is trump alive?? like hes rlly gone thru his whole life like That …. and no one has ever just fuckin decked him?? gave him the ole one two? knocked his lights out??? incredible
sorry to improve your day without much notice but
NEVERMIND REBLOGGING AGAIN BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT WE ALL NEED
QueerGalaxies 