Run Away!

Fight or Flight. They say that great stress impels an organism to stand and fight or to run like hell. The Fight or Flight Response, they call it. This makes sense. It's a good name, if a little bit unimaginative.

I have been battling another individual in my organization who is trying to get me to do something that I don't want to do. Imagine that: me not wanting to do something that someone else wants me to do. This is not the first time I have engaged in this behavior. By nature I don't want to do things if I'm told to do them. Good things, bad things, saving my own life things, I don't like to do anything if I'm told to do it. Technically, I don't have to do these two particular things, either, which confounds the situation and swells my own sense of power and self-satisfaction.

To refuse the assignment, I had to call this guy and tell him that I didn't want to do the work. To prepare for this, I had like four million arguments in my head, using up the better part of two weeks to avoid a half day's worth of work. This makes sense to me when I'm using brilliant and unassailable logic to win an argument with someone who isn't actually present. SuperK chips in, too. I try an argument out on her. She tweaks it. We pop into each other's office from time to time with refinements. This isn't all bad -- some of the stuff that I say to myself really sounds terrible when I'm talking to someone else. Finally, we come up with an airtight solution. Two alcoholics coming up with an airtight solution. Double the fun.

So I call the guy. I'm not confrontational. I'm not upset. I ask a lot of questions and let him do a lot of the talking. I find that when I talk things turn out badly. I figure maybe he'll hang himself with his own rope. I dodge and feint and don't commit to anything but don't refuse the assignment, either. I chalk this up to my kindness and sense of fair play.

Yeah. I was afraid. I was afraid of the confrontation.

P.S.: I received an email this evening "thanking me in advance for helping out with the project."