Being able to see through people’s intentions and quickly picking up on chemistry, vibes, and cues is a privilege mostly earned with age and experience. A rare few may be naturally gifted to identify red flags. However, in an increasingly virtual world, these cues may be harder to pick up, especially for those who are still young.

Adding a hybrid setting to the experience helps because you get both the virtual cues and the body language when working in the office, which supports your conclusions. I have always had a passion for human psychology and love to try to understand the reasons why people act in certain ways.

Whilst some people will hold onto the belief that what you don’t know cannot hurt you, I like the knowledge. Although there are theories that defend that understanding may lead to resonating, I think that will greatly depend on how strong someone’s principles and values are.

I feel understanding human behaviour could help me deal with people daily. The premise that drives people’s actions is often quite basic and simple, yet the damage could equally be inversely proportional.

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Make use of a Milennial word, cringing is probably the best definition for dealing with people with whom I don’t click with. I know you know what I mean. There are currently a few people in my working life who make my stomach churn. What makes it churn? Dishonesty, hypocrisy, opportunism, and laziness.

They make our daily interactions intoxicating, they undermine our efforts to think positively, and they drain any resourcefulness we can possibly have. And when this type of people is located at two (sometimes three) levels of hierarchy, even worse. This totally throws my ethical trust in my employer in front of a bus.

The ability to recognise these people and step as far away as possible is a skill you gain over time, with experience. It’s not always easy, especially when your scope of work overlaps. How do we manage that without allowing it to completely ruin our day? It’s not an easy task, although simple. I find that what works for me is a trust in my gut (that my feelings will eventually be proven right, even though I may not have the front seat view) and a change in perception (that that person has no real impact on your life, in the grand scheme of things).

They call it “working smart, not hard”. Not sure that it is true. I’m not very supportive of many of the ways they consider “smart”. One thing is making use of the available resources to save time and money, the other is jumping over red tape or completely ignoring the rules to reach goals, only to find that one very important step was missed and cannot be retrieved. This is what the new generation is going for, in games they buy mods to jump over levels or checkpoints, at work they are totally unreliable as part of a team (they’re lazy and are often sick) or rather are simply in for their personal gain. Maybe they have it right and I’m wrong. Clearly, employment (stability) is a thing of the past. Job-hopping is way more fun.

As an Gen X female I question these generations’ values. How can companies hire someone that they cannot deem accountable on in the medium long term? I guess with AI, human resources are getting more and more disposable.

Online, they use “Likes” to their advantage, working their way up or grooming newcomers to do their bidding. This is today’s working world. But they do it casually too, as if they have no second intentions. Charity work, fundraising… The subtleties are there if you only pay attention.

However, dealing with these behaviours over time can wear us off. For me, at this age, it’s all about priorities as a means to reach my self-preservation end. We can only endure so much, and that capacity will be different for each individual, but the means definitely justify the end, as long as my well-being is not immediately at stake. I think I have been pretty clear in the recent past that I do not take bullying or abuse of authority well (actually, really proud of having stood up for myself there 🥰.)

Age has its benefits, for sure. And I’m glad it’s totally underrated. Nobody will see us coming…