There is a lady who works in the cafeteria where I work. Every morning I buy my coffee from her and every morning I say hello and good morning and whatnot, no chit chat, just basic niceties, and she never says anything back. She just kind of scowls at me and hands me my change.
My coworkers insist that she’s like that to everyone and there is no reason to take it to heart, but for some reason it just gets to me. I can’t stand the thought of someone not liking me for no reason…. It’s foolish, but there it is.
Call me shallow but I like people to like me. Call it a fault even, if you want.
There are exceptions though, there are some people I despise so much that I would like it if they didn’t like me because it would mean they wouldn’t talk to/confide in me. Person A uses me as a sounding board for his self-centred bitching and right-wing opinions. Person B bores me to death with her extremely shallow and boring anecdotes.
And the person who decided to leave out the ‘undo’ button from IE has a death wish for sure, ohh yes!
Just yesterday I semi-chastised my daughter for rolling her eyes at an adult. The adult was being very unpleasant, but I thought my kid’s manners could use a bit of improvement. Then she said, “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you, but Mom, I don’t care what that obnoxious woman thinks of me. And you shouldn’t care what she thinks of you, either. You said you don’t like her - why would you want her to like you?”
As nice as it would to live a life free of enemies, it would require being very boring and taking a neutral stance on all matters. People who don’t like me usually have much different interests and opinions than mine and they don’t respect me for my differences. I wouldn’t give up the things I like or change my opinions on certain matters just to please these jerks, and if I did, then I’d piss off the people who do like me because they agree with me, and I certainly wouldn’t want to lose any of my friends.
Who says that the lady in the cafeteria doesn’t like you? Perhaps she is thankful when people in line don’t pester her with 15 seconds of smalltalk as they pass by her register.
Perhaps her definition of “liking” someone is to treat them with contemptuous silence, as opposed to “not liking them” which would be telling them to hand over their $1.10 for that g.d. cup of coffee and get the hell out of my line, jerkface.
I’d say it is impossible for everyone to like you as it is impossible for you to like everyone. People either get on, or they don’t. If they don’t, get over it.
