Has anyone else ever noticed that people like to complain a lot? To me, it seems that not a day go by where I am not subjected to at least one person's complaints about life, work, or something. I know it seems to be a general issue amongst people, but I have noticed in particular that contractor's, regardless of what trade they work in, seem to complain the most. Now I may be biased as I have a disproportionately high interaction rate with other contractor's, but I still think they win out with the most complaining. (To be fair, I complain sometimes as well) Is it the type of work or something else entirely? Personally, I think that the type of work has something to do with it as most contractor's are limited in the amount of human interaction they get during the day. They may be working with a few other people, but for the most part, their day is carried out in relative isolation. If they don't like who they are working with, it makes it even worse as they have no one to complain to during the day. Feelings get pent up and aren't released till they see a relative or friend at the end of the day. From the stories I hear, nothing in a contractor's life goes well; from the clients, to the boss, to the actual work. Sometimes, I actually find it quite humorous to listen to other's complaints about work, especially coming from a contractor as I work in the field. Most of the complaints they have can only be blamed upon themselves, sometimes the client, but mostly themselves. Even better, most of the complaints they have can usually be easily resolved despite their reticence in doing so.
Amongst all my friends, two are contractor's that I work with fairly regularly. These two are also the one's I hear the most complaints from, probably due the to the fact that I talk to them more often than others. Not a day goes by with either of these two men without a complaint. With one friend, its complaints about customer's and their weird schedules or simply about the customer's themselves. In fact, I was just privy to a complaint of his last night. In short, he subbed some work out to me and trying to coordinate schedules with the lady has not gone so well. The problem arises as her teenage daughter's don't like being alone with a stranger in the house. That being said, she must be home when work is being done inside the house. I understand and simply go about my usual day waiting for our schedules to coincide. My friend on the other hand is being driven to the brink of insanity by this as he wants to be done with the job. Funny how twisting one's perspective on a situation changes it from "life" to doom and gloom. The other contractor friend of mine loves to complain about his "business partner". (Its in quotes because it doesn't really seem like a partnership to me) Every day, (if I talked to him every day) his bp does something to tick him off. In short, it seems like his bp doesn't really know how to run a business and the amount of time my friend is working versus the amount of time he is not seems to be about equal. I keep telling him to quit his bp and go out on his own, yet it seems like he loves to complain so much he will just keep on working for this guy. But such is life, no matter what we do, something is bound to go wrong and offer us the opportunity to complain about something.
I personally find that every complaint can usually be solved by changing one's perspective on a given situation and looking at it from a different point of view. If that doesn't work, move on. To me, complaining does not solve anything, it merely perpetuates feelings of resentment, frustration, or disappointment. I do not find it worthy of my time to dwell on things that will make me miserable and cause me to complain. Obviously there are times when I succumb and complain anyway, but I try and keep those to a minimum. Complaining will never solve an issue, only make it seem worse and drawn out. The only way to actually resolve an issue is through action and if we keep on yapping, nothing will get done. Maybe my friends and other contractor's out there will figure it out one day, and then again, maybe they won't. In any case, there complaints are occasionally humorous because they are so stupid and they give me something to laugh about. Today, I have no complaints yet and probably won't. I prefer to take care of issues rather than perpetuate them through complaining. But that is me and I wouldn't have as many stories to share if my friend's didn't complain. So as much as I would like my friends and others to figure out how not to complain so much, there is a part of me that loves to listen to it and get a glimpse into the "horrible" lives they live.
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