Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Bossiness vs Assertiveness

It's my day off.  I should be working on my novel-in-progress, but I think I might head off to the supermarket instead shortly, because my kids do need to be fed.  Rapacious little pests; they never stop eating.  But before I do that, I might just make mention of what's gone booger-mining up my snout today.  I've been reading online articles about - I think - the COO of Facebook calling for 'bossy' to be not made such a negative connotation, but rather to think about the assertive leadership skills shown by bossy children.  A person with good leadership skills has the ability to listen to others, and make people WANT to follow them.  Therefore, as far as 'bossy' goes, I'm calling total bullshit on that because let me just tell you this: every bossy kid I ever knew was a complete pain in the arse.  These are the kids who invaded the sandpit.  These are the kids who stormed every skip-rope game that was in progress and seized the handles of the rope, loudly proclaiming, 'We're playing Miss-A-Loop!'.  These are the kids who complained during PE that your (read 'my') volley ball skills were non-existent (incidentally, these are the same kids who copped a hard-served volleyball to the back of the head when it was your, ahem my, turn to serve; you, ahem I, would then look innocent and cite your, ahem my, non-existent volleyball skills).  These are the kids who look over your shoulder and loudly say, 'You're doing that all wrong!' as you ponder a chess problem.  These are the kids who become those workplace tools that listen in to your personal calls during lunchtime as you sort out a minor issue with your landlord and expostulate, 'You're doing that all wrong!'  These are the people who barge in when you're using a photocopier and again expostulate, 'You're doing that all wrong!'  These are the same people who end up being ignored because everybody else has worked out they are so full of shit they squeak.  These people also occasionally are told to kindly fuck off.  So no, I do not think bossiness is a skill to be admired.  Assertive leadership: yes.  Bossiness: shove that one up your clacker.


Speaking of clackers, my nephew-in-law, The Naked Farmer, appears to have been the seat (ahem) of a Facebook furore.  Other farmers are posting pics of their butts in protest.  He has been interviewed by The Golden Tonsils himself, John Laws.  I'm personally not a fan of Lawsie, but if James scores an interview, then good luck to him.  James appears to be stretching out his allotted Warholian fifteen minutes as much as he can!


Okay, I've figured out how to make iTunes purchases.  Yay, me.  But get this, blog-browsers: I've actually managed to get some of those songs onto my ipod!  Yay me to the max!!!   This is a big thing for the technically-challenged shmo that I am.  Seriously, over twenty-five years ago, when first learning word processing, I approached that shitty old Wang with all the trepidation and fear of an Amish woman in the cockpit of an aeroplane.  And what song did I purchase?  'The Black-Eyed Boys' by Paper Lace!  Yay, me again!  Or perhaps not.  Perhaps I should buy 'Marshall's Portable Music Machine' now?

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