Mind you, not all of them are like this. It seems like the ones that are nearing retirement age, or the ones that dress a little less obsessively, and are clearly more invested in their families (or the degree they're working on) than the job are normally very friendly. But those young, driven ones; the ones who are "ambitious to get ahead". Those people know I don't share their values (and I use the term loosely.) I think they consider me and my ilk some kind of threat to their world domination plans.
I suppose it's possible that I really smell, but I have it on pretty good authority that I don't.
Comments
2. You do not smell bad
3. These are not people whose friendship would be particularly enjoyable
4. If they're already jerky, then you have more freedom to be your glorious, authentic self!
It's funny too, because frankly without us their lives would suck more. What better way to show off how hyper-religious they are than to let us faggots exist, so they can look super-puritan by comparison. If we weren't here being weird, they'd all have to compete amongst themselves and the bar would be even harder to reach. Similarly, I don't mind people who work harder than me getting richer - and try to point out to them that it's because there are slackers like me that they can be rich. Were everyone as hard-working as them, their efforts would not be appreciated or rewarded.
I work hard most of the time, but I'm damn grateful for the slackers in this world who made me look better by comparison.
No one will tell you if: you smell, your breath smells, your feet/shoes smell, your hair looks greasy, your zipper etc. is undone, you have tp dnagling from your shoe, you have a booger hanging, your panties are sticking outside your skirt, your teeth are yellow...but they will be repulsed and avoid you like the plague if any of the above is true. Social interaction takes a lot of monitoring to master.
And despite all of this, I am still less well-groomed than about 75% of my coworkers. Especially the female ones. I think a guy who groomed like I do would be considered gay, or at least a metrosexual. For a woman, it's not enough.
To hell with them, we all love you.
Mandrake
You don't smell bad! They probably find you threatening since small minds find anything that they don't understand scary!
"I let their teeny minds think that they're dealing with someone who is over the brink, and I dress this way just to keep them at bay, cause Halloween is everyday." :)
Except that I dress just like they do, dammit. If I have to dress like a mundane, the least they could do is pretend they don't know I'm a freak!
Don't bother about them. Just keep in mind that you're much better than them.
Aren't we?
Crap, did I miss a memo: "Freak World Domination Plans Called Off"?
Sheesh, you close your office door to drown out their mewling noises-- er, edit a very important document! -- and look what happens.
CU
CU
No, they're just stupidheads. I often get the same reactions.
It's a mammalian defense mechanism, really. Social animals give off various sensory clues as to their role and position in the group, and those who refuse to fall neatly into the pecking-order are shunned, in order to keep them from upsetting the social structures.
Really. Monkeys can discern from photographs the dominant members of other groups, even if they have never met them. They will even give up rewards in order to look at pictures of the dominant monkeys (or of female monkey bottoms), but have to be bribed with rewards in order to look at pictures of lower-ranking monkeys.
If you think it's bad for you, an attractive woman who rather likes people, think how it is for a vaguely menacing-looking male misanthrope. I can stop almost any conversation in the office just by opening my mouth.
And you know, it's weird. That is totally consistent with the behavior I see among normal, neophobic humans. Yet I would gladly give up rewards for the opportunity to fling feces at pictures of the dominant monkeys. They intrinsically love the dominant monkeys, while I intrinsically hate them. Nobody can tell me that there isn't a very basic difference at work here.