Three professions requiring thick skin

I received a lengthy forwarded email from an acquaintance who is active in a club. He received it from another member who took a skewed perspective on something he had posted on their web board and essentially questioned his intellect, legitimacy and political leanings, with none of that having anything to do with anything.

This is the third time he’s come to me with a foaming-at-the-mouth rant directed at him. I think he’s looking for assurances that he’s in the right or at least that he isn’t alone in hearing from the contingent on the edge. I’ve done that for him before and will not this time.

Obviously, it hasn’t solved his problem and he has to address the realities. The head person will always draw tirades. Authority piques a segment of the mentally defective and, if the tirades matter at all to him, he may be in the wrong position. Also, he’s not even close to the top of the pecking order in that regard.

Politicians would rank first place in my lineup. They are pretty much fair game for any public vilification fabricated by their opponents, media or any ill-informed idiot who can keystroke a blog (self excepted, of course). It’s not for the weak of knees. And, I haven’t met that many who cared how accurately they were portrayed as much as the number of times their names were exposed. Repetition means name recognition which means votes, especially at the level where no one knows squat about the issues. How many times have you been in an argument over which county judge to elect? And, isn’t it a shame that all those people who really know how to tackle the knotty issues of running a country are too busy flipping burgers to do it?

Next up, coaches. If you contemplate coaching Notre Dame football, the New York Yankees, or the Boston Celtics, get out the micrometer and measure the thickness of your hide. If you’re not winning, and winning big, you will be skewered publically and directly. And, even if you are winning. No matter how well your team does and how many years you’ve been plying your trade, there are still thousands of wide butts out there affixed to Barcaloungers who know better than you do. Not having lives of their own, they're relying on you to provide some kind of ethereal self esteem by winning. The fact that it actually reflects not a whit on them doesn't dawn on them.

I don’t think you’ve guessed the third category because few give it much thought. But, if you publish a periodical, or even just write for one, you’ll get a daily dose from the wild-eyed. First of all, people don’t view the media as a business as much as something like a public utility. They feel like the pocket change they plunk down for the daily edition buys them a say in the content.

Secondly, nothing is as sensitive as the mention of someone’s name, except maybe that of their competitor or opponent. Or, an issue that directly affects a particular reader. It doesn’t matter what approach you take because it will irk someone and the phone’s going to start ringing as soon as the edition hits the streets. If you look outside for affirmation, this isn’t the field for you.

I didn’t tell him he was right or not the only recipient of crank mail because that wouldn’t solve his problem. Instead, I referred him to Harry Truman. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”