THE “ME”

It was 1 a.m. when I was on my way home after a long working day. It is not my usual practice to stay that late in office but there were urgent students’ arrival arrangements to be made and I couldn’t leave until everything was in order.

It was a cool night after a rainy day, the only thing on my mind was taking a long hot shower before throwing my exhausted body into bed.

Nearby my condominium, the streets were deadly quiet. The wind was playing with the leaves on the trees and unfelt drizzling rain could be seen against the warm orange glow of the streetlights. Habitually, I checked my Whatsapp and I saw a text message from a client:  

“You are telling me that you were too busy to pick up my call? What kind of stupid excuse is this? Hey, if you don’t want to work with us, you can tell me that directly! I am sick of your nonsense!

Your job to help me, to make things easy! That’s your job! Do you know how to do your job?” 

I paused for a while and then I stared angrily at it. I was typing a harsh response before I realized that I had no data.

Suddenly, at the corner of the opposite street, I noticed someone walking aggressively and shouting angrily. Then suddenly, he sat down and cried!

I was about to cross the street to see if he was alright when he started laughing hard!

I changed my mind; I started walking away rapidly because I was sure that he was not in a right mind. Before I turned the corner I heard him shouting:

“DON’T KEEP GOING LIKE IT’S NOTHING YOU IDIOT”

I looked back but I couldn’t see him clearly.

I opened the message on phone and read it again. My blood boiled and I pressed angrily at my contact list to call the client. I pressed the call button then raised the phone to my ear, when all of a sudden a person appeared out of thin air and got right into my face! Shocked, I took a step back. In tired voice he said:

“Stop the call, don’t do it!”

I ended the call not because of him, but because I had no credits to make an international call anyway. I stared at him thoughtfully. He had a pale face and looked exhausted. Before I responded to him, the other person on the left walked towards us and in a confident and louder tone said:  

“Let him do it! He shouldn’t just take this insult!”

He appeared just as suddenly as the previous guy! But this guy looks tidy and neat!

The humble guy advocated:  

“This is not about dignity, this is about understanding people’s nature, he …”

The other guy, who seemed arrogant, interrupted in a condemnatory and sarcastic tone:

“Understanding people’s nature? We got a problem here! We got a client with a nasty attitude!”

The humble guy justified:

“The sender is frustrated and possibly pressured by the student’s parents, some more …..”

Then I interfered in strict tone:

“Hey hey, guys, guys …

STOP IT!

Who the hell are you?”

The humble guy took a deep breath and said sadly:

“It doesn’t matter who am I, what matters are people’s feelings and helping others, what matters …”

Other guy interrupted once again

“Self-respect and dignity, that’s the key to success”

The humble:

“Dude, humility is like a beautiful crown of a king, it shines like the wings of angels, it is …”

 “Are you singing or what?”  The egoistic guy said “Humility for someone powerless is like a car without wheels! It takes you nowhere”

I closed my eyes and strictly said:

“Guys! Enough! What do both of you want?”

They answered as one:

“Your best interest”

Then they looked at each other and started arguing again:

“No, you don’t!”

“It is you who want to take him nowhere with your kindness and stupidity”

A very thick voice from behind said:

“Guys, humility is a good quality, however, he must not keep quiet when it comes to his dignity”

Everyone including myself looked at that third guy respectfully. He had a light beard and deep eyes and we listened to his explanation:

“Being down to earth sometimes is not a quality; it is a result of a demoralized personality. A person cannot gain another’s respect…”

He walked from behind me in confident steps. He was looking at the ground but raised his head slowly:

“But at the same time dignity does not justify in any way rudeness and aggressive reactions!”

He turned toward me and waved his index finger and said:  

“But the question is” he continued with a smile “is the text message an insult in the first place? Or shall I call it NEGATIVE feedback from an unsatisfied client?”

Everyone was agreeing and unconsciously shaking their heads! Then he continued

“Ah ha! That’s the point!” “The sender was talking about work, nothing to feel angry about”

The two guys were like: 

“Yeah, true!”

“Exactly!”

“That what I meant” 

The wise guy continued

“So now, read your message again tomorrow, then without EMOTIONS form a respectful and firm response to let him know that you understand his frustrations, and also tell him that his harsh statements are not necessary or appropriate. Above all, explain to him the rationale of your actions”

Then he asked:

“Fair?”

The egoistic guy supported:

“I think you should do that”

Without speaking or thinking any further, I felt the best thing to do was to respond on the spot and finish the matter. So I opened the Wwhatsapp message and read it again.

But I heard that angry crazy guy who was shouting before in a loud voice shouting again from a far distance.

“WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU? CALL THE BASTA**, SHOW HIM THAT HE HAS GONE TOO FAR”

The egoistic guy said in a low voice, as if he didn’t want the angry crazy guy to hear:  

“Oh no, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be! I agree that you have to respond fast and firm, but not in that way!”

I saw that angry crazy guy walking quickly toward us. He had an ugly face and he was speaking each word loudly:

“YOU

SHOULD

TELL

HIM

TO

FU**

HIMSELF.”

As he said it, tension filled the air. He was getting nearer and my heart was beating faster, and I looked back and forth and the WISE guy was not there,

I shouted at the other two guys:

“Where is the wise guy? Where is he?”

The egoistic guy said

“Calm that crazy guy down and the WISE guy will come back!!”

I was too scared to turn my head away as I was sure that the angry crazy guy was right in front of me.

So, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

After a few seconds of silence, I opened my eyes slowly to see the angry crazy guy looking at me with red eyes. His breath was disgusting as he said in a whisper and a sarcastic tone:

“So? You want me to go away now?”

Then without notice, he started shouting loudly

“STUPID! UNTIL WHEN WILL YOU BE SUCH A COWARD?”

…..

Then I realized something! The angry crazy guy looks just like me! but with a darker face and red eyes. I ignored his words and I looked back to the other two fellows, and they also looked just like me but one with a pale face and the other with a neat appearance!!

I was flabbergasted and I asked all of them:

“Guys, who exactly are you?”

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“Excuse me, sir”

The voice came from the guardhouse of the next condominium. It was the security guard and he asked

“Who are you talking to, sir?”

I looked at him in surprise and I calmly placed my mobile phone into my pocket while taking a deep breath. I responded

“Well! Who do you think?”

He was still looking at me oddly, and then I continued:

“Well, in fact I was talking to ME, many of ME to be precise!”

He questioned again:

“Sorry, sir?”

I looked at him with a smile:

“Well, I was speaking to EGO-me, HUMBLE-me, WISE-me” then I left him to wonder.

After a few steps I stopped and turned back to him:

“Oh, I forgot the last one, it was the EMOTIONAL-me” then in a warning tone “and I tell you, this fellow is the worst! His presence will make all others shut up and shut down! So be careful and don’t call him!”

I left the guard with an open mouth, waving my hand to him and saying with a light laugh: 

“Goodnight young man!”

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