Have you ever known someone who was so danged upbeat and happy all the time that you just wanted to kick them out the window?
I know someone like that here at work. He really IS a nice guy, and I would never tell him how I feel about his eternal cheeriness, but sometimes it seems that I run into him whenever I just DO NOT feel like trying to be happy. Or perhaps I run into him when the Universe decides it wants to mess with me, like today. I had a really bad night last night, tossing and turning in a bed that was overly warm and full of cats, poking Martin to make him stop snoring, and worrying about money and dealing with my mom's stuff. Things were a bit rough in the morning, but I watched another episode of 'Dark Shadows' at lunch and was feeling better. Went into the lunchroom, and there he was. Now, I admit that no one twisted my arm to stop and chat with him, so it was my own fault, really. But I was trying to feel a bit more upbeat, so I figured, what the heck, maybe it will help. It didn't. And as he was basically telling me how the world is full of puppy cats* and rainbows if we really look for them, I just wanted to turn into a bat and flap away with a crash of thunder and lightning into the darkness. After I strangled him with my bare claws.
Now I'm sitting here feeling mean and grumpy, so I figured I would share the love and (hopefully) push some of the guilt onto all of you.
Isn't that nice of me?
*And I just found out that there IS something called a Puppycat, and there are rainbows all over the page. Gaaaakk... You can find it here (if you REALLY want to).
LOL I used to work with a Ned Flanders type Drove me up the wall :)
ReplyDeleteYes, one can understand Homer's desire to pound, crush, strangle, behead and/or dismember him, depending on the episode... ;-)
DeleteI had a few professors who were like that. They were so... ugh... positive. And it's not like you could avoid them, you had to go to class and endure it. I happily work with neutral people now.
ReplyDeleteNeutral is good! I was fortunate to never have professors like that, but I DID get one that constantly bitched and complained about how terrible his job was, and WHY was he working here when he had a Ph.D... Since it was an 8am statistics class, we agreed with him; why WAS he there??? Never did figure that out...
DeleteLaughed out loud at the title of your post! Sylvie beat me to the Ned Flanders reference. I honestly can't think of anyone I know or have worked with who is relentlessly cheery. I've only lived in Australia and the UK though. Maybe it's an American phenomenon. ;)
ReplyDeleteHehehe, you are fortunate! I don't think it's just Americans, though. There were two Aussie characters in an Agatha Christie murder that were totally like that, made you sick just listening to them go on! Turned out they were the murderers... ;-)
DeleteI know what you mean! It takes so much out of me to deal with an overly happy person. I feel like I have to try to meet them at least halfway which is sooooo draining
ReplyDeleteESPECIALLY first thing in the morning, that's the worst time to run into them. Hmmm, why not suggest they meet YOU halfway as well? You can be a little happier, if they can be a little darker. Sounds fair to me!
DeleteGuilt? Nah, I don't feel guilty about the way I am. There seem to be lots of these perpetually happy folks in my town and they sometimes drive me crazy with their "positive attitudes." Get into a conversation with them and before long they tell you how they only want to talk about positive things and that they have driven all unpleasant
ReplyDeletethoughts and experiences away. What they're really doing is attempting to dominate the conversation with their BS and I don't buy it. I simply tell them, "whatever," and walk away.
I should try turning into a bat though. That might be more effective. Oh, an episode of Dark Shadows definitely makes me feel better about things as well.
Good idea, I love using "Whatever"! If this guy wasn't a sincerely nice person, I'd probably do the same and walk away, but he's just sincerely too nice to do that to. Weird, but there it is.
DeleteI've know more than one person who either would not or could not admit that they had ANY darkness in them at all. When someone looks me in the eye and says "I have no shadows," I know they are lying, definitely to me and probably to themselves as well. (My coworker is definitely NOT in that category, as he mentioned going through 12-step twice. Anyone who does THAT knows his shadows very well.)
Please let me know if you have any success with the bat transformation! In the meantime, I'll be watching DS Episode 319 today. :-)
This made me smile. I suspect that I am often the irritatingly perky one, for a time I deployed it as an act to irritate my swine of a boss (you can't complain about someone being relentlessly nice to you, now can you?!). Heh!
ReplyDeleteMy go-to episodes will forever and a day be Buffy. Though The Originals is doing a good job of filling a BTVS shaped hole in my life :)
Oh, that is just evil, heheheh... I knew there was another reason I like you! :-)
DeleteI have to be honest and say I've only seen about 2-3 Buffy episodes in their entirety. What is it you like about that show? I just could NOT get into the teenager thing, but maybe that's just age. ;-)
I got into Buffy when it first aired in my 20s. It used to be on here in the UK at 7pm, just as we were sitting down for tea, and with nothing else on our then 5 terrestrial channel choices. The first series came across a bit trite, and then we just found ourselves hooked (something similar happened with Xena *cough*). The Buffy series I always identified with most were the later ones (which got the most criticism), which were quite often about loneliness, alienation, loss and basically just finding your way through life. With a kick ass, sassy heroine and her cute geek gang. Something just clicked, and I still can quite happily sit on hangover Saturday and watch the re-runs for 5 hours on our now much expanded channel choice. Its utter comfort TV.
DeleteOkay, that makes sense. The episodes I saw were mostly early ones, so that would fit in with your "trite" comment on the earlier series.
DeleteHow funny, it happened just the opposite way for me with Xena! We LOVED it at first, then got totally turned off when Gabrielle turned into that obnoxious preachy "angel" thing and everything started revolving around more religious lines. It destroyed the show! (No offense to angels intended.) 'Dark Shadows' has become my comfort TV these days; totally campy and not-so-great acting, but it lets me relax and just enjoy the silliness!
And I remember the days of 5-7 channels on TV, but at least it was all FREE! Hmmm, not quite sure what that word means anymore...
Yeah, the first few series of Xena were fun, and I had a huge Ares crush going on (can't believe the actor who played him died when drunk falling from scaffolding :( ). Then as you say it descended into the more religious / Hope based side of things which is where we switched off as well. It's re-running every night here at the mo on the Horror channel. On our not free cable service!
DeleteOMG, yes, ARES!!! He was sooooo gorgeous and bad-boy sexy! :-) I did know about his fatal accident, but I don't remember reading that he was drunk... it was sad enough without that part. :-(
DeleteFree TV basically doesn't exist anymore. We've bot AT&T U-verse, which combines your TV, computer and phone bills, and we get lots of channels, but of course it's not free. Ahhh, Ye Goode Olde Dayes, when the only things you had to pay for to watch TV were the electricity, the TV itself, and the TV Guide!
LOL!!! I'm sorry that I laugh at your bad mood but it's the contrasts between you two that is very hilarious. I know those cheerful people that has no clouds in their sky can be very annoying :)
ReplyDeleteNo problem, your laughing made ME smile. :-) And yes, the contrast is funny, sort of like a commercial we had here years ago, when a goth girl and a blond preppy cheerleader ended up as college roommates! Hilarious!!
DeleteYeah I have definitely been through crap and sometimes cheery people do drive me crazy! I am working at being happy more of the time now but I hope I never do it in an annoying way!
ReplyDeleteTrust me, if you have to work at being happy more of the time, you are NOT being annoying. :-)
DeleteI've always found overly cheery people to appear fake even if they are the most genuine, authentic cheerful versions of themselves. I have a natural frown when my face is resting. I laugh all the time but if I'm just looking out into nothingness, I frown. When others try to cheer me up, I enjoy saying, "This is my happy face". Then I want to secretly snort.
ReplyDeleteFight the good fight :p
Yes, totally!! I really don't think he is being fake, but maybe he goes home and kicks the gerbil or sprays shaken soda cans down on people from his upstairs window, hehehe... He's got to do SOMETHING to let off steam!!
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