Wise words

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt

I need to remember Mrs. Roosevelt's wise words tonight.

I had an unfortunate interaction at work today. A patron refused my assistance because I am hearing impaired. I will write about it a bit more on Hearing Sparks, but it has been stuck in my mind since then, even though I am usually pretty good about leaving work at work and vice versa. As I wrote in my blog post (not yet published), though, "It upset me that this random person was calling my job skills into question and refusing to allow me to help him, even though I could easily have done so if he was only willing to speak in a normal tone of voice [...] It also upset me that one of the few times I chose to advocate for myself ended so badly."

Like any other job working with the public, sometimes bad apples come through. I know that 99% of the time, I could have said or done absolutely anything and it would have ended badly, due to the other person's emotional state, and the mental baggage they were carrying. Unfortunately, right in the moment, it's hard to remember that, and hard not to take a person's prejudices and grating nature personally.

What I have to remember is that nothing about myself has changed from this interaction. I am good at what I do. While I can continue being the best person I am, this person has to deal with their apparent emotional difficulties and difficulty dealing with other people every day of their life. It is their problem, not mine.

I am going to continue enjoying myself and I will put this out of my mind.