I went to a program the other evening to join a group for dinner. As I came a bit late, I sat at the only available seat down the end of the table. The gentleman on my left was the only person who’s voice I could hear as the conversation was aimed at the middle of the table. Perhaps it’s my life coach energy, but very quickly this man began to unveil his darkest secrets to me including his belief that he was very ugly. This revelation in the first ten minutes of our discussion was most amazing to me; in fact, no one had ever made such a statement to me. What made this remark that much more astounding, was I thought he was quite nice looking when I sat down. He seemed about mid-40’s, had good hair, a nice face and although it also included dark circles from anxious worry and sleepless nights, he was otherwise, quite pleasant on the eyes. But he had a much different self impression.
Here’s the story he told me:
Apparently, as he conveyed to me, he’d been told directly that he was ugly. I sat transfixed in total disbelief as he repeated this phrase in one version or another. “How so?” , I asked. During a job interview, he swore that the interviewer actually told him that he was too ugly for the job. Then I asked he was interviewing to be a TV anchor. He responded in the negative. Well, then, how could anyone tell another person such a thing? It must be his imagination, but he was convinced otherwise. I said, well, just look in the mirror. That didn’t help since he saw exactly what he’d been told. He believed he was ugly. I felt it was a case of lack of self-esteem. Perhaps people saw his dark attitude and attributed this characteristic to being ugly, but not really being ugly. No, he was really ugly.
There’s more..
Wow, then he began to tell me about the other things wrong with him. There were addictions, no friends, not being able to hold on to a serious female relationship…. And the one that really got him was not getting sufficient raises over the years since he’d worked very hard. I tried to explain that nothing is guaranteed in this world except… well you know death and taxes. Lots of us work hard, but only if you provide excellent service to your company do you normally get raises. And, if that’s not the case, it’s always your option to leave and go somewhere else that appreciates you more. Then the entitlement started. Why aren’t people given this and that?
Ok, so he’s living in the wrong country this he believes in socialism and this is a democracy. Of course, on close scrutiny, if he had the money, he wouldn’t want to share it equally with others. Funny how that works. At one point I thought I might be able to help him then I realized he had a lot more going on than I could work with. He probably needed to be on meds.
In the end
Since I had gone out to this group for social interchange and the prospect of a client was most secondary, I felt that I’d had quite enough of this very negative person (mind you it only took a few minutes for me to feel that way so I can certainly understand how others would feel if in my shoes). I did feel bad for him since he had a much distorted view of himself. He really planned to have plastic surgery to correct his face. I did tell him that was the worst thing he could do to himself since I understood his issue was internal and not external. I hope he listens to me and gets the right kind of professional help.
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