It's a random Tuesday morning. You've got your cup of coffee, feeling pretty good about the world. Maybe check a few emails and then start painting. You respond to a couple of people, go to FB, hit the "like" button on a few things just to let some friends know you saw it, and have a look to see if the painting you posted the night before has any comments on it. Wow! It has 24 comments!! "Great Work, "love it, nice job, how much for this one", etc and then all of a sudden you see "I don't know what all the people above me are raving about, I think this painting sucks" - and WHAM, there goes the whole day.
I made this story up, but how many times have you seen this happen: someone posts something, and someone else makes a comment that is clearly innocent or meant to be funny, and then a third party jumps down their throat over it. Or worse, you post a great Macaroni and Cheese recipe and someone posts:
"Obama is the reason I can't eat it anymore! Damn Liberals ruined Mac and Cheese!"
...and your thinking, ok, thank you mister nut-job.
Go to any news website and just read the comments below a story. It is really unbelievable.
If your anything like me, this will make you want to stay off of Facebook completely, and I did recently for about two weeks. And then I remembered something from years ago...
My fathers best friend, who I call "Uncle" to this day, owns a bar I started working in when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Over the next fifteen years I worked in all sorts of bars and restaurants. I bartended, cooked, waited tables, worked the door, parked cars once or twice, and was a bouncer for a summer. I think I have done every job in a restaurant you can do. Bartending was my favorite and I stuck with that until after I graduated from art school. I have bartended in at least five places in three different states.
When you work in bars and restaurants you meet ALL types of people. If you stay in the job long enough, you are going to get into a fight. I have seen and been in, quite a few fights. I never started any of them, it's just part of the job. Most of the time we were just trying to get people outside the place for insurance reasons, but you can still get hit trying. While working at these places have met a lot of tough guys. Really tough guys.Most of the toughest, you would never guess it by looking at them. Some were professional, polite, good tippers, others - not so much, it varies. But they all had one thing in common. Tough guys are not big on talk. I have never met a tough guy who opened a fight with "I'm gonna kick your @&$!" In fact, the big mouth in a bar, is almost never a tough guy, usually the opposite. I'm sure there is an exception, but I've never seen it.
I would bet alot of money, that no real tough guy, has ever insulted anyone on Facebook. it's not a tough guy thing to do. Could you see Sinatra telling someone off on FB?...actually, could you see Sinatra posting on FB at all? How about a mobster. Do you know what you would call if it they posted "your dead" on someone's FB page and then killed them? That would be called "evidence".
Most smart "tough guys" try to avoid leaving evidence. Because I like old movies, I use Jimmy Stewart as an example of strong, but honest and fair at the same time. Stewart wasn't just an actor, he was also a Brigadier General, many people don't know that. Very often when faced with a situation that requires "delicate handling", I think to myself "What would Jimmy Stewart do?"
Mostly it comes down to a few things that are supposed to be learned in Kindergarten. Don't raise your voice, respect your elders, and treat people the way you would like to be treated yourself. So to anyone who has ever been, slighted, attacked, or insulted online - just smile and know that in real life, the person attacking you is most likely a door-mat for pretty much everyone they know, and taking it out on you...
Happy Posting!
I made this story up, but how many times have you seen this happen: someone posts something, and someone else makes a comment that is clearly innocent or meant to be funny, and then a third party jumps down their throat over it. Or worse, you post a great Macaroni and Cheese recipe and someone posts:
"Obama is the reason I can't eat it anymore! Damn Liberals ruined Mac and Cheese!"
...and your thinking, ok, thank you mister nut-job.
Go to any news website and just read the comments below a story. It is really unbelievable.
If your anything like me, this will make you want to stay off of Facebook completely, and I did recently for about two weeks. And then I remembered something from years ago...
My fathers best friend, who I call "Uncle" to this day, owns a bar I started working in when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Over the next fifteen years I worked in all sorts of bars and restaurants. I bartended, cooked, waited tables, worked the door, parked cars once or twice, and was a bouncer for a summer. I think I have done every job in a restaurant you can do. Bartending was my favorite and I stuck with that until after I graduated from art school. I have bartended in at least five places in three different states.
When you work in bars and restaurants you meet ALL types of people. If you stay in the job long enough, you are going to get into a fight. I have seen and been in, quite a few fights. I never started any of them, it's just part of the job. Most of the time we were just trying to get people outside the place for insurance reasons, but you can still get hit trying. While working at these places have met a lot of tough guys. Really tough guys.Most of the toughest, you would never guess it by looking at them. Some were professional, polite, good tippers, others - not so much, it varies. But they all had one thing in common. Tough guys are not big on talk. I have never met a tough guy who opened a fight with "I'm gonna kick your @&$!" In fact, the big mouth in a bar, is almost never a tough guy, usually the opposite. I'm sure there is an exception, but I've never seen it.
I would bet alot of money, that no real tough guy, has ever insulted anyone on Facebook. it's not a tough guy thing to do. Could you see Sinatra telling someone off on FB?...actually, could you see Sinatra posting on FB at all? How about a mobster. Do you know what you would call if it they posted "your dead" on someone's FB page and then killed them? That would be called "evidence".
Most smart "tough guys" try to avoid leaving evidence. Because I like old movies, I use Jimmy Stewart as an example of strong, but honest and fair at the same time. Stewart wasn't just an actor, he was also a Brigadier General, many people don't know that. Very often when faced with a situation that requires "delicate handling", I think to myself "What would Jimmy Stewart do?"
Mostly it comes down to a few things that are supposed to be learned in Kindergarten. Don't raise your voice, respect your elders, and treat people the way you would like to be treated yourself. So to anyone who has ever been, slighted, attacked, or insulted online - just smile and know that in real life, the person attacking you is most likely a door-mat for pretty much everyone they know, and taking it out on you...
Happy Posting!