Journal 4

"How does it feel when someone does not use your name, gives you the cold shoulder, does not make eye contact, and only greets you with complaints?"

I have very mixed feelings about each of these scenarios. I don't really have a problem with anyone not using my name as long as they address me as something.  I have a habit of calling people honey, sweetheart, babe, etc...  I have been told it is unprofessional and I should train myself to call people by their names, so if someone were to call me something like that I would be okay.  Now I have had people approach me and just start talking without addressing me and that bothers me. I usually do not acknowledge them for several minutes and then I will politely ask, "I'm sorry, were you talking to me?". I feel it is rude and very disrespectful.  When someone gives me the cold shoulder, I simply walk away. I do wonder what I have done to upset them, but I do not question them about it.  If someone does not wish to speak to me, then I assume they have a valid reason and I just hope and pray they will eventually come around to explaining to me their reason.  I used to think when someone did not make eye contact with me that they were either hiding something or had a problem with me.  Then I learned that in some cultures it is disrespectful to look a person straight in the eye.  After that I try to read the situation.  If it is someone that I have spoken to many times before and they wont look at me then I would feel like I have either I have done something horribly wrong or that they are up to something.  When a person greets me with only complaints, I would begin to wonder if they were the type of person that only focused on the negative or if they ever saw the positive in anything. After a while, I am sure I would probably ask them if they ever had anything good to say. I am a firm believer that if you give nice you get nice. I don't wake up on a daily basis wondering what all is going to go wrong with the day.