This might seem a bit silly, but to me it’s two great victories in one day.
Two of the things that scare me the most is to a) make demands and b) confront angry people. You’d think that working in an office where I spend all day explaining to customers why they have to follow the rules and pay their bills would have hardened me somewhat (seeing as making demands and confronting angry people is a large part of it). Not really.
Today, however, was a good day. I had to call a customer I knew was pissed off beyond belief, and I was building up a bad case of sweaty palms, galloping heartbeat and lightheadedness. Then a voice appeared in the back of my head, whispering in a faux Japanese accent:
Ninja will overcome.
And it became true. I called up the customer, who instead of continuing her earlier shouting just went “Oh, alright. Toodles!”.
Later I had to ask for a couple of days off, even though I knew the boss had already said that further requests for leave between Christmas and New Year’s would be denied. Again, the voice said:
Ninja will overcome!
And so I did! The boss went “Oh, of course, take a couple of days off. Those rules don’t apply to you. Do have a lovely Christmas!”.
I seem to have found a new way of de-dramatizing situations that would normally send me over the edge… by adopting the guise of the scaredest ninja. It may be silly, but it totally worked. Yay!
Heh. Thanks, fetus. With the overactive imagination I have, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens to me sooner or later. :eek:
And thank you eleanorigby. A pat on the back helps the scared office ninja to overcome even more deadly obstacles. You never know - next time it might be “remembering how to do math while angry customer is on the line”.
I do something similar where I work (911), but instead of ninjas I tell my crew we’re pirates. So when the phones are ringing off the hook and the county is burning down we all start saying “Arrrr!” because if we’re pirates we’re not going to get our asses kicked by the insane pace, because pirates don’t get ass-kicked, they kick ass.
(I tried to get everyone to be Vikings instead but my bosses won’t let me near the phone consoles with my big axe.)
I like the idea of pretending to be a ninja, or any other sort of warrior, when a challenge arises at work. I’ve psyched myself up before important assignments by briefly imagining myself as a Xena-type warrior (haven’t gone as far as showing up to work in costume, however).
When I saw the subject line, I had a mental image of Naruto sitting in a cubicle for some reason.
You inadvertently hit on the main meaning for 忍 (nin, shino[bu]). Most non-Japanese associate it only with ninja, but the “concealment” meaning is actually secondary to the main meaning of perserverance, bearing up under duress, patience. So, really, you’re practicing the ninja mindset of overcoming adversity. Good on you.
I used to practice with the Bujinkan, who were associated with ninjutsu before the name change. They’re just about the only group around in the US that has any connection with actual ninjutsu, though they’ve distanced themselves from that aspect due to the hype and weirdness it attracts.
A buddy of mine asked me to get a phone number from a woman I worked with, 'cause she was hot and he wanted to ask her for a date, but couldn’t create the right circumstances for getting it when he met her. (I suspect he asked me to get it partly so he could claim that he, “sent one of his ninja out to obtain that information.”)
Not so inadvertently, after all! I used to practice Bujinkan myself, but it’s many years ago now and I’d all but forgotten about this. Our senseis, although mercifully free from the “hype and weirdness”, weren’t too heavy on the philosophy. I realize now that some of it must have stuck and there’s still an actual ninja in there somewhere. Thanks for reminding me what it’s all about.
