I have a hard time admitting I am wrong about trivial facts when the other person is someone I perceive to be less intelligent than I am.
I feel entitled to give people my opinion on things in the workplace where my opinion is neither wanted nor needed.
I complain. ALOT. Like ALOT ALOT.
I make negative comments ALOT. Like ALOT ALOT.
I comment on how odd a person looks (big nose, unkempt hair, etc…) to people around me when it is totally unnecessary.
Sometimes I feel compelled to act like I don’t like something that everyone around me likes just to feel “elite”. I can feel myself do this and I can’t stop it.
I tell long stories but rush people through theirs and interrupt them.
I walk like an asshole.
These are but a few of my flaws but I was thinking about it today and felt the need to share them. I’m actively working on 1, 2, 3,4 and 5 but 6,7 and 8 are on hold until I can clear up the big top 5.
Anyone else want to share? Be honest and no excuses!
I used to correct people’s grammar all the time. I mean orally: in front of others. I guess I did that because that’s what my parents always did to me. I didn’t realize how much of a jerk I was until during the first year of my first real job some girl said to me “Why don’t you just fuck right off?” That was 24 years ago and we’re still friends, probably because I did kind of just fuck right off, and apologized profusely.
These days I try not to off-put others. My worst character trait is probably my cynical and sarcastic outlook on just about everything.
Apparently I’m a know-it-all. After a boss finally told me this (and thus explained why some people seemed to hate me for no reason) I became a paranoid, self-doubting know-it-all. Big improvement. :rolleyes:
I can go into excruciating detail about any trivial event. When I recommend a book or a movie that I loved, I try to explain exactly why I loved it, how it made me feel and what else it compares to in my life. I mostly do this to my SO because I’m otherwise fairly socially skilled.
I know I’ve annoyed some of my co-workers by not being the tiniest bit self-deprecating.
I have high standards for myself and others, and I think I can come across poorly at times if I feel that something needs to be corrected/done differently. This is especially true when it comes to animal husbandry or work related things. Some things I’ve learned to let go, other things I do myself, and I try to be as diplomatic as possible if there’s something that needs to be changed.
I’m sure I come across as a teacher’s pet type to some – I answer questions a lot, and I often go up to talk to the professor after class if it’s someone I like.
I think I ask too many questions sometimes. In particular, if I want to know why a vet does something in x way, when there are several accepted methods of doing something, I have trouble phrasing it so that it doesn’t sound like I’m challenging them or impugning their judgment. It’s something that I’m conscious of and that I’ve improved on, but I still worry that I come across as insulting from time to time.
I guess that, overall, I can be lacking in tact at times. I’m a bit of an awkward communicator – I used to be a very quiet, reserved person, and as I’ve developed and become more confident I’ve gone a little far in the other direction towards saying too much. It’s a constant learning process to refine what I say and how I say it.
I’m insecure and have a compulsive need for people to like me, which often results in ridiculously passive behavior. I don’t mind being passive, personally… I’m not all that attached to getting my way all the time. But others may see it as a character flaw.
I’m a very easy person to like and I like almost everyone, BUT it is really tough for me to form close relationships. I am that person you start to become friends with who suddenly stops talking to you. I have emotional intimacy issues. Don’t take it personally.
Neither am I. People who love me think I’m funny, but they don’t stop and realize they’re laughing at me.
I, too, am a grammar Nazi. I will often kill a fun time by correcting quite LOUDLY and directly somebody who mis-uses a word. Fortunately, I have one friend in my group who recognizes it and enjoys a good taunting.
I am totally arrogant. I have been through a lot of crap in my life and when somebody starts to boo-hoo about their life I chirp in with something like “oh, it’s not like you ever had to…” and detail an experience I endured.
I am very intolerant of people’s politics who have never served in the military. And people who bitch about America. Hey, if you have never laid your life on the line or served your country, then get the f**k out. Like it or lump it, but I don’t have to hear about it. Oh, and btw: Why didn’t your pussy ass ever put on a uniform?*
I tend to be quite immature, even at my advanced age. When things don’t go my way, I tend to get pouty and childish.
I’m sure I have more flaws, but that’s it for now.
*=A uniform where you didn’t have to say ‘do you want fries with that?’
I interrupt. I do it either because I’m so excited by what you said that I want to jump in or because I know where you are going to with your point and got it already- pure impatience.
No one has ever sat me down and told me how I’m off-putting, but here are a few guesses:
I don’t take anything seriously. I laugh at things that are funny and not funny. I have little tolerance for concerns which I perceive as trivial–which is about 99% of everything people talk about. I don’t care about much outside of the matters of my mind. I’m sure I come across as thinking I’m “above it all”.
I don’t share much about myself. Everyone who knows me knows I have a twin sister, my mother is religious, and that I used to be chased by alligators for a living. But I don’t talk about much beyond that. When people start getting nosy, I push them back. I’m secretive and mysterious and some people have told me it bothers them.
I’m pathological introverted. I will socialize in the office break room and suffer fools who come into my office to chat, but after work I don’t want to see or talk to anyone. I turn into a monk on the weekends and become unsettled when people want me to do things with them. I make exceptions, of course, for family, but even then I’m looking at the clock. Out of all my flaws this one bothers me the most because I know it upsets people. People want me to go to their parties or do the nebulous “hang out” thing, and they understandably get offended when I always decline their invitations.
The older I get, I notice I repeat myself a lot. If I’m telling a story, I seem to repeat for emphasis. If we’re talking about new restaurants, I might tell you about a new cafe I went to, it’s on Crosby Street, about a block past the post office. On Crosby. Not too far from the post office.
When I realize I’m doing it, I’m at myself. It drives me crazy … and the worst part is that I must be doing it plenty of times when I don’t notice it so it must be extremely annoying to others.
