At my hospital it seems I had a reputation for being very
intelligent. This is not what I said about myself; just what others thought
about me. They also were impressed with how dedicated I was towards my job and
how caring I was towards the patients. Unfortunately the usual progression from
that was something along the lines of: "So why are you wasting your life
being a porter?" As if you have to be a heartless, lazy moron to be a
hospital porter. (Cue the wag who comments: "but it helps!") That's
what they were implying. It is a very difficult situation to deal with; far
more so than those which require dignity statements. This is because your
antagonist is probably not motivated by any malicious intent. Yes, occasionally
you'll come across some emotional vampire who will keep saying "you're
wasted as a porter" to wind you up, but this is very rare. Mostly they
will truly believe they are giving you an honest compliment out of friendly
intentions. They do not realize that the compliment doubles up as an insult, an
insult against the hospital portering service. I don't like feeling angry with
people who mean me no harm and act out of ignorance instead of spite. Probably
the ideal solution is to explain the conundrum in a calm and gracious manner.
If you can manage that, then you and your antagonist will part on good terms. Hopefully
they will have learned a lesson and no longer be an antagonist. I'm surprised
this is the first time I have mentioned this issue during all the years I have
been doing the HPWA blog and The Gas Spanner radio project. Oddly enough it was
a very recent experience that reminded me, literally just a couple of weeks
ago. The lady involved is a good woman who is gentle and respectful, meaning no
harm. You'll be pleased to know that I did respond politely.
