RE: "I've been so busy ... "

RE: "I've been so busy ... " (Full Version)

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LaTigresse -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/22/2012 11:03:10 AM)
It is interesting to me, that anyone would see the proclamation as a complaint or requiring sympathy. I have a busy life because I choose to. A job that requires 2 hours of commuting because I chose it. A business on the side because I choose to. Many animals requiring care and significant time, because I choose to. A property requiring a lot of upkeep, time and effort, because I choose to. My free time, I choose who is most important to me, in my life, and spend it with them. I only cram as much into my life as I choose. The choices I make are done so consciously and based on multiple factors. Priorities, responsibilities I've considered important, long term goals. If a person has a busy life and is miserable about it, then they need to reconsider their priorities, goals and what they really should be responsible for.

ShaharThorne -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/22/2012 4:27:08 PM)
Mom made 3 batches of fudge today. I stayed close on hand because I was holding baby M on one hand and a pan of fudge in the other. Told Mom to go do a soaker just now. She seldom gets to have a bath, just a quick shower. Shopping complete, no kids to babysit, getting the former stepniece coming in tomorrow night for Christmas. I am ready for the snow Christmas night since I got my electric blanket on the bed.

dcnovice -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/22/2012 8:30:11 PM)
quote: It is interesting to me, that anyone would see the proclamation as a complaint or requiring sympathy. In some cases (a key qualifier), I see it a third way: as a litany meant, perhaps unconsciously, to underscore the speaker's importance. That's the dynamic I encounter with the (otherwise lovely) friend who sparked the OP. The more I muse on this and note the differences between CM and FB responses, the more I think this may indeed be, as I said in the first phrase of the first sentence of the first post, "a banks-of-the-Potomac problem." Washingtonians have many great qualities: brains, savvy, awareness of what's going on in the world, wit, literacy, a sense of history. But one of our less charming traits is a tendency toward self-importance, and schedule recitals can be, in my experience at least, a manifestation of it.

LaTigresse -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/23/2012 8:16:25 AM)
It is also possible, that the concept of 'self importance' is at times, entirely the perception of the listener. Not always, but I am very certain, probable at times.

Nakhla -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/23/2012 10:30:40 AM)
I can't really think of the last time I've heard someone use business as a brag. The closest thing I've seen is some newly retired people emphasizing it, but it seemed a kind of self-reassurance much more than a brag. As for myself, I tend to use it more as an apology for not keeping up correspondence ( I confess: I'm the worst at maintaining regular email correspondence ), but can't think of what there is to brag about in it, really.

dcnovice -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/23/2012 4:42:56 PM)
quote: It is also possible, that the concept of 'self importance' is at times, entirely the perception of the listener. Not always, but I am very certain, probable at times. Always a possibility, of course. [:)] Given that, I try not to draw any such conclusions till I've known someone for a while and observed a pattern.

lovethyself -> RE: "I've been so busy ... " (12/23/2012 5:16:31 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: dcnovice In some cases (a key qualifier), I see it a third way: as a litany meant, perhaps unconsciously, to underscore the speaker's importance. That's the dynamic I encounter with the (otherwise lovely) friend who sparked the OP. The more I muse on this and note the differences between CM and FB responses, the more I think this may indeed be, as I said in the first phrase of the first sentence of the first post, "a banks-of-the-Potomac problem." Washingtonians have many great qualities: brains, savvy, awareness of what's going on in the world, wit, literacy, a sense of history. But one of our less charming traits is a tendency toward self-importance, and schedule recitals can be, in my experience at least, a manifestation of it. I don't think it's Washington so much as the nature of the job that most people you interact with have. I work as a freelance technician, and being busy directly correlates to (at least in some ways) with how good you are at your job. If you are busy, that means that other people think you are good at something, which in turns makes you more appealing to other employers. As long as you can also be available to them when they need you. It's an attitude more apparent with short term work, since you never know who your next employer will be, and so you have to always portray yourself as desirable. One way to do that is to show that you are consistently busy. That many people want you to work for them says a lot. But how will people know you are that busy if you don't tell anyone? Personally, I don't need the extra work as much these days, so I don't have to play that game. But it is part and parcel of the networking game of short term work (and politics is short term work). If you are always available, then they start to wonder why no one else is hiring you. I was actually taught, long ago, that with a new employer, it was actually better for you to say yes to the first call, and no to the second. It showed that you had other work, which made you look better in their eyes. If you say no for the first one, they don't bother to call you for a second. lts

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