As time progressed, The Huz started to realize that, yes there were business issues and mistakes made, but her aggressive and dare I say, petty, attitude did nothing to help any of the issues happening. She would start off interactions with, "I told YOU, I already went over this, or YOU messed up." Mind you, the "you" was a generic term that often didn't pertain to The Huz since he never dealt with the issues she was attacking him with. When The Huz would politely ask for a background update or more information, she would angrily say she already went over it even though it wasn't with The Huz, but with a previous person handling her account. She seems to always be angry and confrontational...and never happy, never satisfied, even when problems were handled or there were no problems to speak of. She is a person idling on ready-to-attack.
On a recent interaction with her, The Huz said something like, "Thanks for the heads up." And her response was a curt, "It's not a heads up, it's policy." That one interaction (among a myriad) alone was a marker, an indicator of where this lady is willing (and able) to meet with The Huz on a civilized, cordial manner. With her, there is no room for niceties. She isn't willing to accept it and she certainly isn't willing to dispense it.
Meeting after meeting of being subjected to her personality and dreading every correspondence, and frankly after many vent sessions where I simply listen and occasionally offer advice, he's come to the same thought process as of the above quote. Just treat her accordingly, not in a mean way, but in the most professional business-manner way he knows how. There is no need for pleasantries (she seems to be irritated by those anyway), but just pure business demeanor. I have confidence that The Huz, as professional as he's always been, knows how to act on this realization appropriately. Ultimately, I hope this works for him, because that's all that concerns me--The Huz' mental health.
It goes back to the notion that we can't control others' behavior, we can only control or regulate our reactions to them. This lady will continue to be who she is, interact with others as she does. And there are more out there similar to her interacting with all sorts of people, traumatizing people who probably need kindness and understanding in their lives. Unfortunately, that's just the reality of the matter, so if we can hold on to this quote to help us manage then all the better. I hope it helps someone, anyone it can.
Don't treat people badly, treat them accordingly. The words can be interpreted and manifested in a plethora of ways, but if you can make it work for you and still be appropriately positive and kind to yourself and others, make it happen. 😘
