If you've lived long enough and you've been paying attention, you have experienced a sticky situation - or two.
1) Two of your good friends don't like each other.
2) Someone you know uses the "N" word in a casual conversation.
3) A co-worker tells a "gay" joke and then laughs their ass off.
4) Dodging a social commitment while living in a small town.
5) Trying to deal with a "friendship failure" while bumping into the former friend in the grocery store.
6) Working with someone you previously respected only to be disappointed in their ethics.
I've experienced all of the above and many, many more. If you were looking for me to help you resolve a sticky situation - keep looking. I've struggled with all of them except the "gay" joke thing. That guy really pissed me off and I called him out on it. I'm sure he's still an obnoxious homophobe and I've had to be in his presence since then but I avoid him like the plague.
Dodging the social commitment isn't one I've had to deal with very often but in keeping with the honest pledge of my blog (Did I make a pledge? If not, I do right now), I will say - it has happened. Being asked to do something and fibbing up an excuse and then having to hide in your house - or sneaking out of town so you won't be seen. Feels like middle school, doesn't it?
The last sticky situation is writing about sticky situations in a blog with your real name in the title and living in a small town. ha!
Other things to avoid "like the plague": cliches! But seriously Ellen, If someone is using racial epithets, the N-word being only one of many, just tell them that you object to that kind of language and don't let them come back with the lame dodge about political correctness. Bigotry is bigotry plain and simple. Here where I work, a former employee had this thing about using "Polish" as a way of saying something was lacking in smarts. But if you'd just use a run-of-the-mill 4-letter word, look out. There's a word for that too: hypocrisy.
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