You know those days when you have to deal with people running around like chickens with their heads cut off and they are speaking the loud language of hysteria? I had that today. It was pyscho chicken Friday.
Amongst all the insanity – which I won’t go into as I just want to forget it - two men tried to put the frighteners on me to get what they wanted. And no, despite what some people, who have no idea who I am think, I do not enjoy confrontation - but I do not back down from it – nor am I a victim. I rise to any challenge. These two men tried to intimidate me. One by standing over me and yelling and the other on the phone yelling his teeny weeny self hoarse. Yelling seemed to be the theme of the day. Have you noticed people only yell when they don’t get what they want? Having worked previously in a complaints department for a long time and had people screaming and crying and threatening me, there is not a heck of a lot I can’t handle. 
So it started off with Male A who loomed over me. I think it was to show me how big and tall he was - how proud his mummy must be. I simply sat back, crossed my legs and waited out his rant calmly. Its quite fascinating to watch someone in full hissy fit isn’t it? They go red in the face and slam their hand down on the desk a lot. ‘Seems all rather pointless to me. Anyway, when Male A ran out of steam, I said the words he did not want to hear - 'no' and explained why. Don’t you just love it when someone who considers himself better than you has no idea what to say as he wasn’t expecting you, a woman, to be calm, let alone say no. He wanted tears, he wanted stuttering and apologies, not a tone of voice that indicated he should fuck off and let me go back to be writing…er…work.
Then Male B rang me. I felt sorry for him as he sounded like his undies were very, very tight and cutting off the circulation to his brain which in turn was effecting his speech. It was full on aggression. He carried on like a pork chop and I again waited him out in silence. As you know silence is very effective on the phone when someone is incoherent with rage because after a while they start wondering if you are still there and if they are talking to themselves. I always wait for them to ask 'are you still there?' then I speak in a low, calm voice indicating that they were not going to get what they want and they too should go forth and multiply.
After this, I awaited the third male in the triumvirate of psycho chickens. If two males are thwarted by a female they will appeal to someone higher to teach the female a lesson. But alas no lesson came as I was right and they knew it. The unspoken fuck off message also helped. It's all so tiring isn't it dealing with fools? Confrontation? Yeah, I’ll meet it head on but what’s to enjoy?You know, I don’t mind a bit of arrogance in a man. The whole alpha male-master of the universe thing can be quite enjoyable but in moderation - but not in screaming psycho chicken babble with arms akimbo carry on. So men - amazing creatures - but not today – hence the reason I am not doing any writing tonight as I will kill the hero off in some terrible way and the heroine may giggle a lot when it happens.
The winner of the Amarinda and Anny contest is Fedora Chen. Thankfully I sent the parcel off at lunchtime or I may have ripped into it tonight to de-stress. Thanks again to everyone who entered. I appreciate your time and you support.
Have a psycho free Friday and beware of chickens.
www.amarindajones.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmarindaJonesNewsletter/
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?
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7 comments:
Sounds like you corralled the psycho chickens back to the pen for now. Good for you and for all the women incapable of doing the same.
Sorry to hear you had to deal with that, Amarinda. I very much admire the way you handled it. Hope you are enjoying your weekend and totally destressed. Handshake.
Ahhh, the psycho chickens. Yeah, I've run across one or two. That silence on the phone is soooo true. You handled it perfectly! Have a great weekend!
gotta watch those chickens. They can be nasty little shits. have a less-psycho weekend!
Ahhh, I can't stand screamers. Particularly the ones who turn purple and lead over as if to intimidate. Glad you aren't killing off your hero today. snicker. Of course, the heroine might thank you later. Very funny. I love the way you handled the whole thing. Perfect.
have you thought of installing a video camera so you can capture these moments?
I completely agree with how you handled it. It's how I handle big strong men (ususally fathers or administrators) who think they can bully me or intimidate me. Sitting back and looking at them as if the are the floorshow is very effective, but you must be patient because they won't notice til they start to wind down. Had my heroine in Measure of Healing use the same tactic with a large angry Were.
I imagine if you wrote in that mood, your book would be a lot like the beginning of the "Jewel of the Nile" where Kathleen Turner had such a great opinion of Michael Douglas.
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