My girlfriend is possibly the best-intentioned critic I have ever met. She is unafraid to highlight the bad points of… just about anything, but she’ll also highlight the good points just as vehemently.
This includes things that actively offend her, such as a homophobic employee who worked below her a couple of years ago. He came up with the MOST convenient way to sort her backroom, then discovered she was gay and immediately tried to get her fired as a manager. [Girlfriend] will not hesitate to point out that he’s an a**hole, but she also still uses his sorting method three years later because “it WORKS, and it works REALLY well, I’m not about to throw that away out of spite”.
One day, I come to pick her up at work and find her dealing with a customer who seems to be having trouble hearing the word “no”.
Girlfriend: “For the last time, I am not going to ignore our policy when you are two years past the return window.”
Customer: “Well, then, f*** you! And f*** the ugly b**** who bore you!”
Girlfriend: “Aaand now you’re banned. I won’t have anyone calling that b**** ugly.”
The customer seemed somewhat confused as he was escorted from the store by security, a sentiment I was inclined to share. Once she’d clocked out:
Me: “So… you WILL have people calling your mom a b****?”
Girlfriend: “Oh, yeah, you haven’t had the ‘pleasure’ yet. I’m on the other side of the country from her for a reason. Miserable bigots like that need to die alone. But, here, look.”
She shows me a picture of a grey-haired woman who nonetheless looks very fit.
Me: “Wow.”
Girlfriend: “Yeah, she takes REALLY good care of her body. And look at that silver! She won the f****** lottery when it comes to old age. Her beauty’s only skin deep, but I still want to LOOK like that when I’m as old as she is now.”
Me: “I mean, I don’t blame you, but…”
Girlfriend: “Oh, trust me, I know what you mean. I used to think that because she was a b****, everything that had anything to do with her was b****y. I literally stopped taking care of myself when I moved out, just because she was constantly telling me to eat healthy and stay active. But then one day, I had to look at myself in the mirror and ask myself, “Why do I WANT to be sick and weak and unpleasant to look at?”
Me: “That’s… you know what, that’s fair.”
Girlfriend: “Exactly. That was really the catalyst for me. Just because there’s SOMETHING bad, doesn’t mean that EVERYTHING is bad. It started with her, and now I take the same approach to anything. I don’t want to turn into the a**hole who looks down on something really good because of a single flaw.”
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