I’ve finally started reading a Barbara Ehrenreich book I’ve had on the backburner, "Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream."
You get Ehrenreich’s wry humor early on in the book. In one of the first chapters, she remarks that a coaching session, meant to inspire, has left her drained and exhausted due to the coach’s terminal enthusiasm, remarking that if she had it her way, she would "throw in a major serotonin antagonist to damp down the perkiness" and "find a tactful way to suggest that she chill."
ROFL.
I so totally identify with her feelings, but I’ve never been able to put my finger on why "perky people" can be so annoying.
Is it the seeming denial of allowing themselves to feel real feelings? Is it the inappropriateness of this denial in certain situations? Is it the sense that "perky people" are not real or honest (either with themselves or others or both)? That they present a masked, unbalanced personality to the world? Is it the implication that they think anything opposite of exceeding "positivity" is necessarily "negative," as if so-called "negativity" (or even simply facing reality) has no place or purpose in life?
I am an upbeat, positive, optimistic person. So what gives? Anyone else feel me on this?
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to...
