"You're Wasted as a Porter!"

 

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.