There is particularly oafish manchild in my workplace that I made the mistake of being politely friendly with when I started the job three years ago. Thanks to FDS, I clocked him nearly immediately and it wasn't long before I started pulling back and grey-rocking/stonewalling him completely. Thankfully I can do my job fine without interacting with him, 95% of the time. So i've just been silently observing him over the years and watching prediction after prediction come true based on FDS principles.

Anyway, today he pissed me off in a big way. I need not bore you with details but he did something dumb that involved a loud unexpected noise that was inappropriate and scared the shit out of me. Now, I am known to be even-tempered and slow to anger, and have struggled with expressing anger for most of my life. I have walked away from many situations berating myself for not speaking up when I feel angry. This morning, however, my wrath was induced. And I tell you, it felt absolutely incredible.

Ladies, when I tell you I spat fire at him... I cussed him out at full volume, no-holds-barred. I wasn't even thinking, it was purely instinctual. A great many of us struggle with this, and this is why The Gift of Fear is required reading. As Gavin de Becker says, when you sense danger and you let your instincts lead, they know exactly what to do. I say that specifically cuz this frightened me and got enough adrenaline going for me to just let loose with a tirade of expletives on this dude.

It was truly empowering, and not in the bullshit faux feminist use of the word. I mean, I was showing my fucking power and willingness to fight. That's power, the kind that is denied, obscured, and forcefully removed from women for millennia. As far as my own story is concerned, this was a huge step for me.

A little while later, this dude tried to talk to me apologetically with his tail between his legs. Didn't even look his way and stated, loudly and coldly, "Don't talk to me."

The real icing on the cake is that today is his last day at the workplace so those will be my last words I ever spoke to him 💖 I just feel so warm and fuzzy

Ice queens, make-a-scene-queens, swear-like-a-sailor queens - let 'em have it. Show these idiots that they do not want to piss you off.