There's a Positive to the Negative

And doesn't that title sound all Deep and Profound?

Okay, yesterday over a Bye Bye Pie, June asked her faithful and devoted followers (even Carin) to say something nice about someone or something that you normally wouldn't.  And anything mean or snarky would be deleted and she meant it.  She said so in CAPITAL LETTERS, which is how we knew she was serious.

The response was tremendous.  And yes, there were a few of us who let the snark sneak in, myself included but it was very cathartic and positive.

And it reminded me of how negativity breeds negativity and it only takes one person to infect everyone else.

Years ago, I worked in a department that was 99% women.  Believe it or not, we all got along quite well and there was very little tension and it was one Big Happy Family.

And then Debbie Downer was hired.  And within a matter of weeks, we were all at each other's throats.  Sniping, snarking, and bickering became the norm and and the tension in that department could be cut with a knife.  People who were normally best work buddies argued over every trivial issue and oh! it was awful.  The other employees started to avoid our wing like the plague because it was so tense and unhappy in there.

And it could all be traced to Debbie.  She wasn't mean, she wasn't bitchy, she was a nice girl but she was such a big ball of negativity, oozing angst and woe and it infected the whole department and brought the rest of us down.

I finally had enough and went to our Department Head and demanded Debbie Downer either be moved to another department or let her know she wasn't the Best Match for this job.  And Department Head agreed and Debbie Downer was "let go."

The following Monday, our office was once again a Happy Place of Love and Harmony and we could focus not only on our work but get back to discussing important topics such as what cartoons we watched when we were kids and what were the fashion trends at our respective high schools.

I know that I have been snarky about the Happy Peppy "My Life is so FABULOUS!!" stuff posted by people on Facebook and well, yeah, it still annoys me and I will continue to roll my eyes at all the motivational and inspirational quotes that people post every. single. day.  

But I'll be more positive about it.