be consistent. and be better.

i have a pretty good track record
when it comes to 1st impressions i have of people.
well no, not good, but a consistent track record

...i'm almost always wrong.

the people who i loathe and have disrespect for
are the same people who i admired greatly at 1st,
the girls who i find very unattractive right now
are the same girls who i thought were hot at 1st,
and the person who i turn to for brotherly advice
is the same person who i wanted to slap at 1st

consistenly wrong.

which brings us to today's story;
a story about a certain pokcik i have to deal with.
a pokcik which i have heard nothing but bad stuff about

i talk to the people who used to be in the same team,
i talk to the people who deal with him on a daily basis,
and i talk to the people who have to face him as well

and the feedback is pretty much consistent;
the over-bearing, rude, disorganized, disrespectful,
over-eager, confrontational, insensitive pokcik.

and you know what? i felt the same way.

i also feel that the pokcik is over-bearing and rude
and over-eager and confrontational, disorganized,
disrespectful and certainly insensitive towards others

...until i had a bit of a chat with him

he was being, well, him.
and i certainly was in no mood to listen,
but he said something that caught my attention;

"...we should do everything we can to make it work.
that is our job. but sometimes, when we do this,
the problem is, people will not like us for it..."

...he knows.

he knows people doesn't like him,
he knows people think he's annoying,
and he knows people don't like to work with him

but the thing i quickly realized is,
he doesn't do it to be annoying
or over-bearing or all that negative stuff

...he does it because it's his job

now, how many times do we shirk away
responsibility or being vocal about things
because it'll affect relationships at work?

how many times do we, instead of confronting,
we tell ourselves; "...hey, it's not worth it..." or
"...people won't like me if i say this..."?

how many times do we do our job?

i understand the need to be tactful,
to be sensitive when it comes to relationships,
but sometimes we end up not doing anything

so now i have a different view of the pokcik.
i now see someone who is willing to not be liked,
simply because his responsibility comes 1st

and i, for one, respect that. a lot.

so there you go, people.
im a (consistently) bad 1st impressionist,
but i am always willing to change that

...more often than not, for the better.