Toxic People: Decontaminate Difficult People At Work: Without Using Weapons Or Duct Tape

Chapter 15. Toxic Infections

You are contaminated every day with toxic infections derived from people, jobs, or your environment. This realization occurred early in my work life.

Upon graduating from college, I took a job as a kindergarten teacher. This was before kids had the opportunity to go to preschool, which meant that most of the kindergartners had not developed social skills or become used to sharing. The noise level every day was earsplitting and my time in the classroom became a challenge, but the worst part for me was the parents.

Seven-year-old Joe was selfish and rude. In approaching his parents to see how we could work together to help the child, I was shocked when they went on counterattack and screamed, "You're ruining our child!" I wanted to reply, "Well, you've done a pretty good job yourself!," but didn't say so. They spewed their toxic venom and infected me with total distaste for my chosen profession. That was just the first incident of many.

I hated every day, crying on the drive to the school and on the way home. Some evenings, I would sit in my car and sob because I didn't want to go back the next day. For those of you who are teachers, God bless you. It just wasn't my forte, desire, or passion. I had a terrible toxic infection, and it had happened because of my choices.

After six months, I decided to start looking for something else. Scanning the want ads, I saw an ad for a "candy girl" who would provide free samples of goodies at retail locations. I was a girl ...