Please-ed
Mimi rearranged the spoons in the cutlery drawer for the third time that morning.
Mimi rearranged the spoons in the cutlery drawer for the third time that morning.
Her mother’s voice echoed in her head, “Be kind. Always treat others the way you would want to be treated.” So she smiled at every awkward question, agreed to every last-minute plan, and nodded through complaints she didn’t care to hear.
But the more she tried, the more the smiles felt thin, like wallpaper peeling at the edges.
At work, she stayed late to finish her coworker Peter’s presentation. He was lying to her in saying he had something important to attend, a family thing; she couldn’t have known at the time he was a liar. The next morning, she discovered Peter had gone out drinking with his usual crowd; she rolled her eyes at his revealed dishonesty. He glanced at her once and said, “Thanks, I guess.” He knew she knew he lied, but he still told himself she was too dumb to not fall for the same request again at a later date.
At dinner, her uncle ate the last slice of pie and shrugged when Mimi asked for a piece, while shovelling the whole piece in his mouth after licking the surface. Gross.
The applause she craved never came, and it seemed strange to give it to herself. Instead, she heard whispers and tired sighs, and she noticed the small eye rolls. She wondered, did anyone in this place actually like working with each other?
One evening, Mimi left the spoons as they were and sat down with a cold cup of tea.
She didn’t ask for anything; she gave less f*cks. She just let her behaviour say it all.
In that moment her silence felt like freedom.
There was no reason to be a people pleaser; people are never pleased.
Written by Angela Fedele
Author’s Note
This story is about emotional intelligence and meant to cut politeness, which is on the surface of people-pleasing behaviour or culture. It is meant to capture the quiet exhaustion and eventual defiance of a pleaser who is done with performing.
About the title, it is meant to be clever, “Please-ed” as a play on both “pleased” and “please-education.” Some performances don’t deserve applause.
