Since Ed has left me, I think I have a lower tolerance for people complaining about the mundane details of their lives. I have even less tolerance for people complaining about things that are superficial and not important in the grand scheme of life. Then again, I suppose that is relative, I guess what one person finds “important” isn’t necessarily important to the next person.

I just had lunch with a former colleague today who spent the entire meal complaining about all the things I vented about while at my last company. The difference between him and me is that I actually left the bad situation so that I could stop complaining and have a chance at career happiness. He did not. Why would I want to sit there for an hour to listen to someone else complain about my old situation that I left?

Then I thought, I have a great way to shut people up when they start complaining about things that they can either control (but choose not to) or things that are just insignificant. “My brother just committed suicide. Do you want to talk about that? Or do you not even care and think your problems are that bad?” Granted, I haven’t said that yet, but if anyone annoys me enough, I may just need to.