Friday, July 16, 2010

Hunting of the snark

I am naturally a rather snarky person. ("Nooooo," you say. "We're shocked, shocked! to find this out.")

I am really working on this. It is, however, a measure of how comfortable I feel with a person or situation -- or how hopeless I assess it or them to be.

As I have been feeling more comfortable at work (and as the time draws near for the Job to end, *sob*) my snark level has increased. This is not necessarily a good thing.

Because, really, people do not like being the target of snarky or sarcastic comments. Or most people, anyway. Tuesday, my annoyance at a particular coworker boiled over, and I said something I immediately regretted. He took it as a sign of affection. Definitely a mixed blessing.

I also was snarky to my supervisor (or one of my supervisors) on Wednesday. I later apologized, saying "I wish I could say this was out of character, but I'd be lying." The supervisor in question seemed amused rather than offended (at least as far as I could tell), but I as I get further along, I can see that I am testing my luck.

And again, I like my coworkers. I do not want to be cruel or sarcastic, but things just ... slip out.

I'm working on this.* I'll let you know how I do.

*along with that swearing thing. In fact, now that I think of it, the less I can swear in a situation, the more I am likely to be sarcastic and somewhat nasty.

2 comments:

  1. I rather enjoy your snarky side :) 99.99% of the time, you are safely inside the line of "playful banter" with it... I've rarely seen you be hurtful with it, and can't think of any examples of you being hurtful with it offhand. Mischievous dry wit is one of my favorite humor styles.

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  2. PS oops forgot to sign the prior comment - Geri

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