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Friday, October 13, 2023

passive aggressive bullshit

I don't have time to enumerate it all. But this is truly bizarre. I was on the planning committee for the annual library conference. As with all my committee experiences, there were a couple of people who really steamrolled everything and took over the conversations. But there was one thing I dug my heels on: there were a couple of loud voices for eliminating several regular activities, claiming the conference had too much to do. One of the things they wanted to get rid of was the after-dinner activities the first night of the conference. I pushed and pushed and pushed to keep it, incurring the irritation of two people in particular. Eventually (at a subsequent meeting), another person joined my side of the fight and we agreed to do all the work, so the other folks stopped insisting we eliminate it. 

Fast forward to the conference. 

After MUCH discussion, there had been arrangements made for some snacks to be available during the after-dinner activities. When we got back to the conference site, the snacks had been set up in the exhibit area rather than the ballroom, where the activities were taking place. I heard one of the main conference organizers comment on this as we walked by. But she did nothing about this. If it was me, I would have asked the hotel to move the food, or just taken a person or two with me and moved it myself. But I know I am perceived as pushy and abrasive, etc, etc, and I didn't have anything to do with the food, and I didn't want to take charge of something that wasn't mine. But she left the food there, and she never even told the people in the ballroom that the food was there, so they could go get it if they wanted it. What the actual fuck? My very ungenerous interpretation is that she didn't want these activities to happen and now she has the chance to make them a tiny bit less enjoyable. 

I don't know how to navigate this type of situation. My instinct was to grab the food, but I didn't want to give her and others like her a reason/excuse to fuss at me. Additional note: this same person interrupted my activity (a book discussion) by walking up and starting a loud side conversation with one of the participants, so I waited while they finished talking. Again, my very ungenerous interpretation is that she was trying to disrupt me, but maybe she is an oblivious rude asshole, as opposed to a passive aggressive rude asshole. Hard to know.

    

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