Weird people. We all know some. People that do not like to look ordinary. There are some who have artistic reasons. Then there are those who just do not care about their appearance. And these are the ones I want to ramble about.
I used to think I was one of those. Just not fitting into society, doing things my way. But, as soon as I understood that in order to succeed in society one must be a part of it, I changed, much like almost every teenager. But because I had that experience, I was determined to support (or at least not hate on) everyone who decided to stay in opposition.
This approach has turned against me at the first experience (after some time) of working with weirdos. Firstly, I must declare that I do not believe all weirdos are the same, even the ones I had the honor to work with were in different shades of useless.
In my experience there are two main types of weirdos. The “Unrecognized Genius” and “Indifferent Subordinate”. Neither of them wants to do much. But while Genius believes it is all simple, Subordinate is more likely to at least not underestimate the work at hand. Since both are weirdos by nature, and likely have been weird for their whole lives, they have been ostracized out of ordinary society and gathered to small groups of weirdness, where they talk about their issues in their language.
This makes it hard to communicate with them on a normal level. There is a saying that goes something like this: “The only thing worse than an idiot is an idiot with an opinion.” This is exactly the case of the “Unrecognized Genius” stereotype. They have an opinion and will not let it go even if facing the facts, because it would mean losing, and they have already lost so many times…
On the other hand, the “Indifferent Subordinate” is exactly what the name suggests. They only wish that someone other would decide for them and give them orders. They have their own things to care about. This person is at least fine to work with, however the communication problem is just the same.
Is it the society’s fault? Bullshit. Who is society? Me? You? Yeah. Is it any person’s fault that someone does not wish to follow a simple guide to seeming like a normal person? No. If I did it, anyone can (and a lot of people probably did).
Now you certainly wonder about what they have done to me that made me so angry with them. Well believe me when I tell you that the only one thing they have done to me was disappoint me. I am disappointed that the “hateful society” that people sometimes like to see it has, yet again, a point.
I am sorry, but I believe there is a connection between not caring about your appearance and not caring about the outcome of your work. I am typically not sorry for the things I discover on my life journey, but this one really hit me where I didn’t expect it.