San Francisco pedestrian perfectly mimics a lot of people’s career struggle

So I was walking to the client office from my hotel in San Francisco recently when it dawned on me how pedestrians mimic the behavior of some struggling careerists.

Here’s what happened…

I’m crossing an intersection and the. The hand starts blinking with the countdown timer. Of course, this also means the light is going go turn red soon.

And this car that has been waiting not-so-patiently to turn right decides to turn in front of the pedestrian in front of me.

Was it by the letter of the rules of the road? Probably not, but for sure understandable. Nobody wants to be at the front of the line and wait multiple lights before being able to make a turn.

Well, mr pedestrian didn’t like the car turning in front of him so guess what he did…

He reared back and landed what could at best be described as a graze to the back of the offending car.

As I’m watching all this, I’m wondering why do people do this? What outcomes could be expected that make this a good idea?

A hand injury? Even though cars aren’t made of metal, they do intend to withstand substantially higher impact in an accident than some random dude’s ill-placed fist. (He was clearly not a student of Tae Kwon Do, on multiple counts.)

Crazy motorist throwing the car into reverse doesn’t seem like a win if you’re the person traveling by foot in this scenario either.

But you know what? I’m sure it made Mr pedestrian feel better for that split second.

So it also goes with people going into career discussions. They think they will go in talking about what they want and how they feel instead of an actual business case – demanding a promo or job change.

Or trying to give your boss who heavily influences your performance rating the silent treatment.

Or just ripping your boss because you don’t like the way his/her coffee smells in the morning.

Sure it may feel good at the time but this just doesn’t make sense. I can practically guarantee longer term effect will not be what you’re looking for.

I’m all for getting your message across but do it in a strategic way.

I guess I could’ve summed this all up as don’t be a dum-dum.

For more tips on how not to be a dum-dum, there’s a book you should read:

https://ericpbutts.com/clu-book/

– EB