Quiet Person Complex

Hello again, it's me, Paige. Today, I have another somewhat stupid, somewhat clever, personally I think it's funny, phenomenon to share with you. You've all heard of things like the Napoleon complex, which involves short people or small dogs being fierce, which is sometimes comical due to their size. Well, I experience Quiet Person Complex. It's not quite the same, but it is a very real thing that I endure every day.

I noticed this when around my boyfriend, Duffy, whom I love so dearly. He talks very loudly, but doesn't have the best hearing. I have a tendency to talk quietly, and this leads to our greatest weakness as a couple: communication. We joke about this a lot, because many of our conversations are similar to the below model.

Me: I should cut my hair.

Him: What?

Me, speaking louder: I should cut my hair.

Him: What?

Me, now annoyed that he doesn't have super powers, speaking louder and now slower: I. Should. Cut. My. Hair.

Him, after a moment's pause: Still didn't hear what you said.

Then, if it's unimportant, I will refuse to repeat it and wave him away. 

This doesn't happen every time, but it happens often enough that I've realized how upset I get when he doesn't hear me. I've been used to this most of my life. My parents would always tell me and my sister to "speak up" and others accused us of constantly mumbling. We thought we were speaking fine.

I'm also familiar with walking up to a customer at work and asking, "You finding everything alright?" and them just continuing to look at some product. Sometimes I ask again, other times I just walk away uncomfortably and mouth, "Oookkaaayy" like they had just been the rudest human being on the planet. I know this can't always be true, some people just genuinely don't hear me. Yet, I am still offended.

This, is Quiet Person Complex. It's speaking softly, and trying to raise your voice, but usually not doing so effectively, and becoming angry when whoever you're talking to doesn't have super sonic hearing.

I experience this a lot at work. I can recall getting very peeved at a woman over the phone because she said, "You sound like you're all the way in China!" Also, when we first got headsets for employees on the floor I hated when people corrected me on my usage. Asking me to speak louder, or hold the button longer. I mean, I took the advice and now people can hear me, but the first few times I got that feedback I was salty.

Basically, everybody needs to get hearing aids or learn how to read lips because I have very important, interesting, and funny things to say, so listen up! If you don't hear me, I will be pissed because I've got Quiet Person Complex.



Note: I love everyone in my life right now, and I will sometimes not be pissed at you because I understand I'm very bad at raising my voice efficiently.  Mostly it's just Duffy. He is terrible at hearing and asks me to repeat things all the time, and we need to work on our communication skills. K, love you, bye!