Wage disputes, and bad habits.....creating problems

I have often been told about a bad habit I have of turning the prevalent issue of the moment into something related to totally to myself ( in other words stealing the limelight). I had no idea that I was doing this so often or that others were noticing it, until it was mentioned and then highlighted with examples. It was not the easiest to hear little bits of truths about oneself especially if those truths were unflattering at the least and unlikeable at the worst. This was one bad habit I resolved to change with immediate effect. Unfortunately like all bad habits, this is proving difficult to do.

Yesterday a colleague and I had to work on a project together. Before we got down to the tedious task on hand, we began discussing the news and current events. Before long we began discussing the municipal workers strike which usually means the rubbish is not collected until they return to duty.

I soon realised that my rubbish which was supposed to be taken away on Wednesday will now not be collected for another week, and mentioned aloud that it was a huge problem if the municipality would give to the workers demands no matter what they were asking for. Having never heard me take one side of a wage dispute so strongly before, my colleague asked me why I thought so, expecting me to give an opinion I had perhaps heard on the radio or read in the newspaper.

I reminded him that I had a fallen adversary; “the dead rat” which was culled in battle, decomposing rapidly in my trash, and had a vested interest in the strike ending rather urgently, when I noticed that he was no longer just sitting upright, he was bent over trying to control his laughter, and not doing too well at that. He laughed long and hard before we got down to the business at hand.

I guess I will have to strengthen my resolve to rid myself of the bad habit, even though the bad smell lingers a while longer.