#1073 Quitchabitchin'!

I don't want to hear it, and I especially don't want to pile on. I know you think you are being insightful. I know you're displaying your superior lines of thinking with your Monday morning quarterbacking. I can see that you're protecting yourself by letting me know that you cannot be taken by anyone, and I know you're hurt, and for that, I feel empathy.

What I don't feel is the camaraderie of shared complaining. I have no interest in a game of "Can you top this – The bad crap about people and things edition."

Unfortunately, some people love it. They will roll in your diatribe like a dog in a foul patch of grass. I'm not them. It makes my skin crawl to listen to base, vile descriptions of people we both know and of the company we work in.

I'm no saint by any means. I can nod and agree with a mild criticism of a mutual acquaintance or coworker. 

I can recognize a bad policy with you and take a moment to talk about the wrong-headedness of the person who wrote it. I can even offer the occasional gibe.  

 What I cannot and will not do is listen to the vitriol you feel is needed to express your displeasure. I don't want to watch you kill an ant with a sledgehammer and, worse, look to me to agree and swing a hammer of my own. And I certainly do not want to perpetuate this conversation by encouraging you or repeating anything you said to another.

I hoped you'd stop if I expressed extreme disinterest, but a yellow light won't stop a train. Instead, I must actively disengage and overtly tell you, "Frankie, don't play that."

I don't think I will change you, but I do believe that, somehow, I'm changing the world.

Own Your Sales Gene…