It Will All Come Out in the Wash

The last blog I posted was about sh*t shows at our family’s house during the holidays. If you got the impression that the Price family only puts on these sh*t shows in the comfort of their own home and are generally reserved in public, I’m delighted to tell you that you are wrong. Nope, we can get full-on wild in grocery stores, on the highway, funerals, weddings, hospitals…annnd the workplace.

My grandmother and grandfather have always had an amazing work ethic that they passed down to their children and their children’s children. We know how to hustle and get things done. My grandparents grew up in the time when the manufacturing industry was alive and well. Mamaw was working a job in a factory when she came home from work with both of her thumbs bandaged straight up in the air. When asked what happened, she said a snake bit her. Apparently she had been working on a line and a lady down the line from her was talking some smack to my grandmother. 

If you know my grandmother in real life, you would know that this is a bad idea. I have seen grown men mutter under their breath, but were too scared to speak up when she asked, “What do you have to say to me??” I’m telling ya’ll, she’s fierce. On this occasion, this lady took her life into her own hands and charged at Mamaw. Mamaw put her hands up in the air to grab the woman by the throat and landed with both thumbs in the woman’s mouth. The woman bit down and Mamaw dislocated her jaws. (That’s what you get for running off at the mouth to my grandmother!). The supervisor of the company came to intervene and my grandmother picked him up and threw him in a bin. Embarrassed, he yelled from the bin to all of the other workers, “Go on! There’s nothing to see here unless you want to be fired!” Needless to say, my grandmother got the walk of shame to her car with both of her thumbs bandaged up in the air. Knowing her, she probably wishes it had been her middle fingers.

My mother and aunts and uncles grew up with the understanding that you don’t take any bull from anyone, work or not. If someone mistreats you, give it to them right back. Over the years, my cousins and I are somewhat less aggressive, but it surfaces when least expected. My cousin Brandie has the sweetest, softest voice and manner. She was telling me earlier today that she told off one of her coworkers who literally unloaded dirty laundry on her. She said the next day when she came in to work, everyone cheered her on for having the strength of spine to stand up to the obnoxious coworker. Me, personally, I just passive aggressively send emails and carbon copy God and country 😊

But the point of this blog post, much like most of the others, is to give you a reminder that you don’t have to live by anyone else’s rules and you don’t have to be referent to a rude person just because they are a coworker or have a title. I’m not saying you should go around dislocating jaws, but remember you have a voice. Even if that voice gets the opportunity for other employment. Like my grandmother says, it will all come out in the wash.