GirlFriends

I made a mistake at work last week, not perfect, I do make mistakes every now and again and try hard to learn from them when I do. In the scheme of things this was not a huge mistake, nobody died, nobody was even in danger of getting hurt (important factor in my job). However, one particular female collegue chose to expose my mistake in a very public way, presumably in an attempt to make me look small and her look superior. I find its usually women that do that to each other, why do we do that?

I have always struggled with female relationships, I am blessed to have had a few very close female relationships but the circle is small and is getting smaller as the older I get the trust I place in female friendships seems to diminish. I am not sure what the answer is, I suspect part of the reason for my lack of deep female friendships lies within me.

So, this issue at hand, the mistake I made at work, I chuntered about it all weekend, rehearsed in my head exactly what I was going to say to this person, in a perfect articulated and sophisticated way ( we are good at doing that in our head arn't we). When I got back to work on Monday and finally prepared to have "that difficult conversation" at the last minute decided not to be adversarial, not to be a doormat either but to return meanness with kindness. Result, my target was shocked and surprised and maybe a little embarrassed at my frank but reasonable approach and I had the privelege of having my say and walking away with my dignity intact.