- 17 times in barely 30 minutes!
- I couldn’t take it anymore and had to leave.
I recently attended a social event on Zoom.
The woman facilitating the experience started out by apologizing for the snow and bad weather we were having.
It went downhill from there.
It was one apology after another from her – none of which she had any control over.
She was sorry that:
- Some people were tired.
- The event’s name (which she did not come up with) did not have an alliteration.
- A participant did not like the color blue. (This may or may not be an exaggeration!)
It was draining to hear her take responsibility and apologize for so many things she had no control over.
I could immediately tell she had been raised as a Good Girl – a selfless servant who was responsible for everyone’s feelings – and thus an avid apologizer.
She’s definitely not alone as an auto-apologizer who does not realize the damage so much apologizing can do to one’s professional reputation.
She’s definitely not alone as an auto-apologizer who does not realize the damage so much apologizing can do to one’s professional reputation.
Good Girl Rules are like that – making work and life much harder than it needs to be if you don’t break free.