Stereotypes!

There was a guy where I sang a couple weeks ago that started talking to me. He was covered in tattoos and had all sorts of facial hair. He started talking about his “old” wife. I asked him if he had a younger one but apparently he only meant that she was not his wife any longer. He had all sorts of girls names printed on his body though. I wasn’t sure if they were his children’s names or if he simply hadn’t learned his lesson about how his track record with permanence is less than worthy of using needles and ink to express his sentiments!…May I suggest henna?

The guy asked me what I thought he did for a living. Without a beat, I said, “Construction worker?”…uh…nope…he apparently was an accountant…but he was looking for a job. (Oh. Really? I’m surprised! There are so many accounting firms in search of people to select “off the grid” under the ethnicity box on their application.)

So why is it so easy to give someone the wrong impression? One bad day…one flippant remark…one visit to the store in sweat pants…The love of your life could be standing right there in front of you thinking, “hmm…what a mess!”…one (okay…maybe 4 or 5) misplaced tattoo/s…someone with dog hair on their coat (yeah…that’s mine…if someone has dog hair on them, there is absolutely no way I’m going out on a date with him! I’m actually lucky if I don’t sneeze on him before he even asks.)

The question is do we always need to be on our best behavior? It’s like being an extra character in a show. You can phone in your “passenger number 2”, but what if a producer is watching for that perfect “passenger number 2” in a movie with the same title? You wouldn’t get chosen for the role unless you played the role as though you were the most important character on the stage. Actually, that’s sort of why my “passenger number 2” likes to take a tap solo in front of the main character once in awhile. Of course in most cases this hasn’t gotten the best response from the powers that be but oh well…I just better not be stereotyped as the “unruly passenger number 2!”…

The bottom line is that being the best at being you while still heeding your social barometer will go a long way towards achieving anything you want out of your life. And if you plan on expressing yourself on body parts that people might see one day, don’t worry about that accounting degree…