Not playing this…

People at times misunderstand me for being sweet and nice. Yes, I am, but when I take off my mask of diplomacy, I am equally candid and straightforward. No, I don’t offend anyone, but I have my own sweet way of giving a dressing-down. Did that this morning to someone who had been skirting work for a long time now. It isn’t pleasant, but someone needs to do it, and I don’t mind it. Hopefully, the work will be executed now.

I am not a hard taskmaster, but I don’t like to be taken for a ride.

To think of it, I have been doing this since the last few days as well. I negotiated terms, highlighted discrepancies, re-iterated the need for transparency, weighted in our commitments, and yes, even showed a carrot to a particularly ‘naïve’ client, just because he was becoming too smart for his boots.

Let me share something interesting. Ours is mostly a women-driven organization, with even our global associates mostly being women. Being in a profession that is male-dominated, we get taken for granted. The first impact for almost everyone is our physical appearance. And, yes we dress to kill, we mean business and nothing else. (Personally, I am of this opinion that I don’t want to be like men and dress like them. I want to be identified as a woman, through my clothing as well.) The fun starts when we start talking. It throws them off-balance. It is like this in almost every initial meeting, and this doesn’t get old at all. Now, I enjoy the look on their face. Jokes apart, by the end of the meeting, our genders no longer matter. We earn their respect. It seems unfair that we as women have to strive harder, prove ourselves more, for us to be even taken seriously. But then somehow the dent that we make may open a door for another woman in some other domain. That’s the butterfly effect, right?

To sum up, I am not a complex person. I am not someone who thinks something and says something else. Sole reason, it suffocated me to no end being in that meaningless relationship. I don’t like to lie, I seldom do that, unless I have a super compelling reason to do so, and thereafter feel guilty as hell. I might not be rude, but I have my own ways of giving people a piece of my mind. And lastly, I value people, especially the ones I love a lot, even if they behave utterly silly at times!

PS: No matter what, I need to write my eighth story. I will finish the book by this weekend. Let me be stubborn about it, yes, that will do. This is what I hate the most about myself, this procrastination, refusing to finish something, running the last lap. Come on woman, you need to do this, you got to finish what you started!