Cheerful, upbeat, positive attitude- anyone else hate this?

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I've been job hunting for a week or two now and I've been getting rather agitated when a perspective employer lists requirements like "Must be cheerful" "Person must have a positive attitude" "Must be an upbeat go-getter". To me it just doesn't seem fair to put something that can't be measured as a requirement for a job. Not only that it's exhausting to have to smile all damn day just to keep a job. It's not that I'm not a cheerful, upbeat go-getter with a positive attitude... it's that most people don't think I look like a cheerful upbeat go-getter with a positive attitude. I actually got fired once for being "gloomy" which pissed me off because I wasn't gloomy I was concentrating... how can this kind of crap even be a valid reason to hire or fire someone?

They probably don't want people who are very negative and always complaining about life. I can't stand those people either so I can see why they would make that requirement. What I do is I don't say a word, even if I am having a bad day, I still won't say anything that is negative.

Thinking of happy thoughts makes me smile. Now I can't seem to stop smiling.

As a general rule, NTs like to be in a positive environment.

What sucks for us is that we don't "feel" or "express" a positive demeanor unless we seriously feel that way. At most, we fake it, but I suspect it comes across as such.

People think I'm so down all the time, but really, I just feel nothing. It's exhausting to "act happy" just to please others.

emotions are what dooms humanity, enough said

really though, if it were me getting fired over the personality, id say that s**t would happen. More than just hit the fan. You should have a right to feel however the f**k you want. If it pisses off NTs, it pisses them off, it it pisses off others, it pisses them off. I find constant smiling as stupid, same for the positive attitude 24/7. Being like that is just.... pointless. People need to be more *realist* in attitude. I find constant optimism and positivity as demeaning and holding back progression. People need to see what sucks in order to fix it. Obfuscating optimism/positivity is a pox that hold back humanity. Sure, some optimism/positivity is a good thing, but when your expected to be like that 24/7, then yeah. You shoulda gotten the legal system involved when you got fired.

if you havent figured it out already, I take a philosophical stance against what makes humans, human.

If the company from better off ted existed, id just love to work there, id get along great with veronica

Yeah, it really sucks when employers have control of the labor market and can make crap requirements like this. Sure, they always want people to work as hard and efficiently as Lieutenant Commander Data, put up with their abuse like Jesus did during His last Passover week here, and be smiling like the Joker the whole time. It is practically abject hypocrisy to expect someone to be able to meet all these expectations without being forced to be deceitful. But when they have control of the labor market, they not only state these ridiculous wants as requirements, but then can demand that their workers and applicants play along under threat of unemployment.

It partly depends on the job, but generally I do hate that kind of thing as it tends to mean either you are going to sit back and take a lot of chaos and pretend it doesn't drive you insane, or even worse it can be part of this whole cultural attitude that one must always be nice and anything negative is bad form. Even serious problems have to be minimized by describing them in positive words. Hey, it's a crisis here, but they want to call it an opportunity, kind of like newspeak from 1984.

On the other hand, people who complain a lot, make a fuss much of the time, whine, b***h and moan habitually and can't let anything go make life unpleasant, so that is generally not helpful. I can see that. I complain less than I used to, but I would rather address a problem rather than just pretend it isn't there, and sometimes that gets branded as negative, which is a serious culture clash. Fact is most work places are chaotic and run on crisis management and do things that make little sense -- I can see why they want people to shut up and smile, but I would rather work in a place that is proactive, progressive and well organized rather than full of such utter BS. That bugaoo called "good fit."

I knew someone who got fired from a subshop because, and I quote, "They looked like they didn't enjoy making sandwiches." That being said, if you don't fit the required superficial job description, then you should probably be looking elsewhere for employment.

Then there are those who fit nothing, like myself. So im writing a book, perhaps change that.

Everybody fits somewhere, even if you make your own space. Not everyone was meant to punch a clock, tow a line, take direction, whatever you want to call it. I'm working on an online comic, but it's on hold because the wife and I just had a baby.

> Everybody fits somewhere

No, I mean successfully. Technically we all exist in some niche until we die, but it doesn't mean we fit there. In 45 years, so far I fit nowhere.

How so?

I find the whole postive attitude 24/7 thing irriatting.
I also find the whole negative attitude 24/7 thing irritating also.


Someone emailed Dilbert.com (the comic by Scott Adams) this story
about how she and her colleagues were not happy in their jobs.
But instead of listening to what the employees had to say, management brought in a new rule, they had to smile all the time and they would be fined $1 each time they were caught not smiling.
so they were not only miserable at work, they were poor too.

In general, I appreciate a positive attitude even though I may not express one all the time. Having people in the office complaining about their lives takes its toll on other employees. Negative employees around customers discourage those customers from continuing to use you. It sends a signal of instability rather than reliability.

Rather than impose stupid rules on our employees we tell them to tell whiners to shut up if they're not interested in hearing the complaints. People don't usually complain if they have no one interested in their complaint. If I'm interviewing someone and they complain a lot during the interview, I usually count that as a negative.

I think any attitude will do, as long as they are of a positive and inspiring attitude.

As for those who say gloom and doom, I try to brighten their day... But if they don't, too bad, let them be unhappy on their own! We have to bring joy throughout the world don't we?

I don't fit anywhere. Everywhere is distressing and confusing. It's either too noisy or smelly or crowded and quite often pointless or worse. I don't understand people, don't feel comfortable, try very hard to understand, fit in, listen, interact. No employer has been dissatisfied with my work, and yet I have never been able to find work that fits me. I just cope. I don't thrive. I'm not connected. I just exist.