Friday, March 16, 2007

A view from the outside

I have a woman who comes over and cleans my house for me every so often. (And worth every damn penny too.) I know her because she used to work at the place where i used to work, along with 1,800 other people.

Last week we were talking and she said, "You know, you're really nice. I used to be afraid of you at work."

"Really?" i replied, slightly taken aback, "Why is that?"

"Oh you always walked around so fast and you're so tall and smart and you were a manager and all."

"Huh. Well, i am tall and i do walk fast. And that's scary?"

"It is to me."



Huh. I guess i put on a good show.

39 comments:

Spenser said...

I'm in a psychology class where we're learning that body language makes up over 80% of communication..I think.

Interesting.

Special K ~Toni said...

You scare me too...


Just kidding! I think you're FABULOUS!

Gordo said...

I've been working on slowing down my walking for several years. I used to tear around everywhere, but I've mostly slowed that to a saunter. Sometimes, I even stroll. Rushing about everywhere is bad for the soul.

thailandchani said...

I used to have a very forceful, purposeful walk. You wouldn't believe it now! LOL Gordo is right. Rusing around is bad for the soul.


Peace,

~Chani

Unknown said...

I'm going to be running to keep up with you. :-)

Lynn said...

It can be quite enlightening (though not always pleasant) to see how other's perceptions of us differ from how we perceive ourselves. Just goes to show that actions really do speak louder than words.

Girlplustwo said...

you're tall? a tall meno?

l like that. tall meno.

Bob said...

I'll bet you were a force in that office to be reckoned with!

luckyzmom said...

Caucacasians are just too damn tall!!! And fast.

egan said...

I sympathize with your cleaner.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

To me, most people are tall. But I feel that everyone is at my eye level, so you don't scare me.

I don't clean very well, either.

meno said...

spenser, i've heard a similar statistic. Body language and tone.

toni, is it just a size thing? I am not aiming to be scary. Thanks! :)

gordo, i think some of the reason i walk fast is from having long legs. I can slow down, when i remember.

chani, i enjoy the exercise from walking rapidly. But not all the time.

nancy, no need to race, both the Mister and Em are shorter than i am and i am used to strolling.

lynn, it was interesting, that's for certain.

jen, ridiculously tall. 6'1".

bob, i dunno. I liked and was liked by most people. But i did have a way of calling bullshit when i saw it.

luckyzmom, i am both i guess. But i'm nice too. she said so.

egan, really? The nice part? :)

hearts, my size can be both useful and distracting.

Anonymous said...

I used to be 5'2", but have since commenced to shrinking. the only people I have been able to intimidate with my size are my children, and now only one is shorter than I, and that will soon correct itself. I think your height would probably have intimidated me. my hubby is 6 foot, and he can be rather formidable to other people, but since I'm the boss here, it's okay :)

Anonymous said...

when I was in high school, a girl I didn't know liked a boy I barely knew, but thought was cute.

One day she said to me, "you're not going to beat me up are you?"

WTF? I've never hit anyone in my life.

Anonymous said...

I'm fairly short, but I was raised by a tall father (6' 4"), so tall people don't scare me just because they're tall. I was also raised by a very critical (short!) mother. Severely critical people scare the crap out of me. Which is why I always try to do the right thing, ha, ha! :-)

I like it when someone I have a pre-conceived negative concept of turns out to be nice. Some of the best friends I have today were people I initially feared... and later discovered that they had also had a terrible opinion of me at first. Go figure.

Joan of Arf said...

Hilarious. Just goes to show how you can fool them ... when really you really have no frickin' clue and are walking fast because you forget where you are supposed to be and are always running late.

Fast, tall and smart. A triple threat.

Lee said...

I have been told by friends that I was intimidating before they got to know me. I always think it's weird. I'm just a short lil Asian girl, usually in pig tails cuz I'm too lazy to do anything else.

Mother of Invention said...

I'm 5' 9 and I used to think that worked for me as far as teaching kids goes, but the minute I'd walk in the class, smiling, they knew I was really a soft marshmallow! I was more suited to the younger kids way more than those scary gr. 7's and 8's!

(I walk extremely fast..maybe you and I could actually go walking at the same pace!? My sister who is also tall, is the only one who walks the same.)

I get my house done every 2 weeks and it's well worth my $ too!

Mother of Invention said...

I would have loved to have another girl as tall as you in my class so I wouldn't have to stand in the middle of the last row of boys for the class picture!

I used to be taller but shrunk due to 2 disappearing disks! My height is all legs! Praise those 34" inseams!

My husband is 5'10 but he used to wear those negative Roots heel in the 70's so always looked shorter.

My sister married a gut 5'5" and they look neat together.

Anonymous said...

I'm only 5'2", and there's nothing about my physical being that is particularly intimidating, yet people often tell me that I am quite a presence. It's all attitude. THAT, it seems, I am not lacking.

I walk fast, too - far faster than one would think my short little legs could resonably carry me. That is the fault of my first two boyfriends; both were right around the 6-foot, 6-foot-2 mark, and I was expected to keep up because they sure as hell weren't slowin' down...

Joan said...

I'm a fast walker too but no one would ever call me tall. ;-)

jaded said...

It is difficult to imagine how others perceive us. We tend to make impulsive judgments about character based on visual characteristics, class stereotypes, or personal prejudices. Unfortunately, we decide before we learn anything about the self of the person we are judging.

meno said...

holly, i am still waiting to shrink. C'mom, c'mon!

de, weird huh? Guess it is attitude. Don't hit me. :)

ortizzle, So that's why you keep in line! Fear of criticism. HA! :) I too have met people whom i thought were one way and I WAS WRONG! I like that.

joan of arf, a scary triple threat!! That's me.

lee, Sounds like you've got attitude girl! That scares some people.

MOI, i was always the tallest girl in the class until high school. Thank heavens for Jan S! :) I'm all legs too. My brother, who is 6'7", has the same inseam as i do, 36". I remember those Roots shoes. I even had a pair.

mrs.chili, i like a person with attitude.

joan, well then, let's go for a walk!

patches, we all make snap judgements all the time. I think it saves on brain work. 'Course that's why we need to be willing to modify our opinions later.

sari said...

I love your new cat whisperer extraordinaire button over there on the right.

It has nothing to do with your post, but it's so cute!

Anonymous said...

I've never even met you and you scare me.

Dick said...

Now that I am retired I can walk as fast as I want to. Or not. That is neat. I've been away from "The Job" a little over three years and I hardly recognize anyone there anymore. I guess they survived even without me, although I always thought that I was irreplaceable. Ha-ha.

TTQ said...

I'm short..my inseam is probably 26".. I walk fast on the treadmill, more like a hamster on a wheel...

After I graduated I ran into a girl a few years later who said she always wanted to be my friend all the girls were intimitaded by me, whaen actually I suffer from social anxiety.. I wasn't too stuck up to talk them...wish I had gotten over that, in fact I still need too..

meno said...

sari, i like it too. Patches made it for me. Pretty clever for a cat.

rhea, BOO!

dick, ain't it great? The Mister thinks that his work wouldn't survive without him either. (psstt, it would.)

ttq, i wonder what opportunities we pass up because of fear. Too bad.

Anonymous said...

I walk like a madwoman. It keeps me in shape. When I am by the ocean though ,I like to slow down the pace. Funny how some people interpret who we are by what they see...

caro said...

Oh! And btw, I used your cat whispering technique with my very own girlcat Spicy. The day we left I very gently spoke into her ear that she was to stay inside during our two week vacation, that somebody was going to feed her etc... From the amount of cat hair I had to vaccum off the basement carpeting, I'd say she got the message! Temperatures dropped to record lows while we were away, thank god she stayed inside...

Liv said...

Somehow I don't imagine you as very scary. Although I can see how a woman who can give her daughter the vibrator talk would be a threat to other mom-types. Keep walking fast.

meno said...

caro, it's one of the things that keeps me in shape too. I love the cat story works. Maybe they aren't as dumb as we think......Naw!

liv, well, most people, well except anyone who read it on the internet, don't know that story.

QT said...

Oooh, I love that you are tall! I am a short 5' 3", but people always tell me they were scared of me when they first meet me. I am usually scratching my head trying to remember the first time I met them - I am terrible.

gary rith said...

yes, but what does the cat say about you? they see us most clearly

Bobealia... said...

I've been told that sometimes I scare people because I look so vulnerable. WTF?
It's definitely not a bad thing to look tall and smart at work!

jaded said...

meno, I don't think of myself as dumb.... I think I'm manipulative, calculating, and lazy...wait a minute, that doesn't sound any better does it? Hmmm, I think I prefer being developmentally delayed, and extraordinarily handsome ; )

meno said...

qt, i like being tall too. Maybe a few inches shorter would have been easier, but what the hell. I'm glad you are scary too.

gr, he says that i am an EXCELLENT source of food and belly rubs and some really good Columbian catnip, man!

bo, WTF? is right.

patches, and you are really handsome. I will bravely remain silent on the rest of the characteristics.

Mignon said...

The only people I've ever been intimidated by are tall. And that is not coincidental.

Mother of Invention said...

Yeah, those Roots shoes are now known to have been really bad for your calves and back! Now my husband's a chiropractor! HA! Waking uphill ripped my calves!