Argh

[shanmonster]

I'm typing this on my phone, so this could be rough...

A while back, I was speaking with a dance student who is a Luddite. She was complaining that "you need to use a computer to dance." Now, while I believe that the Internet is a fantastic resource for dancers, I think it's preposterous that it is necessary in order to dance. She said she couldn't get music or videos without a computer. To this, I told her a few local places where she could purchase or order in DVDs and CDs. But she ignored what I said and kept raging. This made me testy.

When she told me she wanted to learn a particular dance style, I told her of two different instructors who teach that style, and told her that one also has DVDs teaching that style. But she still kept complaining how she couldn't learn it around here. This made me even crankier.

Some people just don't want solutions. They just want an audience for their bitching.

Comments

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I can't stand people like that. Were you at least able to walk away, or were you trapped in a space with her?

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Quite trapped, alas.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

UGH. My sympathies.

[zydee.livejournal.com]

Sometimes people convince themselves they can't do something and they need everyone around them to agree. She didn't want solutions from you. She wanted validation. "YES it's sooo harrrrrd to be Luddite in a modern world! Look at all the awesome stuff you can't have because it's eeeebil modern computer stuff! Poor thing, and you really wanted to do this, too! Guess it's just impossible!" If she really wants to learn the dance style, she'll ask how to work around her limitations. She doesn't really want to learn, but she does want her stated reason not to learn it to get validation from you. This self-created victim status is exactly how she's rationalizing not learning it. If you don't validate her victim status, she'll keep bitching about it till she feels like she got what she needed.

Welcome to life at a call center.

(Reminds me of a snotty bitch years ago who kept griping that Boise doesn't have culture. Her stated reason for thinking this? "There aren't any Russian restaurants!" Well, yes, there actually is one, my co-workers told her. Plus Basque, Thai, vegan, and pretty much everything else you could want and just about all the major chains besides. She just smiled thinly as she got schooled, but she didn't stop bitching about Boise being the sticks. Unsurprisingly, she decided simply to not show up for work not long after. We didn't validate her victimhood very well, I guess.)

[silverfae.livejournal.com]

OMG How did we ever become learned belly dancers back in the 60s and 70s, and even the 80s??!!
We didn't have computers and readily available information!! We were sooo ignorant!