Buttinskis. Ants. Why people need to be more like the second.

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone likes their opinion to be heard and welcomed. After all, this blog is all about my opinion and me wanting to be heard.

However, there's a time and a place. And there are instances when a rational, intelligent human being should know the difference between expressing their opinion and when they cross the line of being a "buttinski".

Originally a short, loudmouthed Polish man with the last name of "Buttinski", this know-it-all was famous for giving advice and soon, as the story goes, became the royal's advisor. In his first week on the job, he convinced Poland to join a war involving three other European countries. After Poland lost innumerable soldiers in said war, Buttinski told the royals that they made a major mistake by joining the war. The queen blew up. I blew up just reading this from the Urban Dictionary online, and ordered the king to execute Buttinski. After news of Buttinski's execution had spread throughout all of Europe, the nickname "Buttinski" was used to imply that somebody's constant butting in could lead to their downfall. It eventually became more of a sarcastic label and when somebody would enter conversations without permission, they began to get called "Buttinskis".

I know a few people who - if you ask anyone they'll concur - are classic Buttinski's. Matter of fact, I had two people at work this morning pull classic Buttinski moves. The first one was telling me how I should do my job in front of one of the bosses (honestly, our outside I.T. consulting firm hadn't trained me yet on how to do the "job" this bitch was informing me that I should be doing). The 2nd buttinski apparently doesn't have a full plate (she's an accountant with the first name initial of "A".) as she had to walk her fat ass up to the lobby to let me know that the "time" wasn't correct on the phones (the power went out last night). This same person had a courier waiting in the lobby yesterday to deliver a check to the bank; I left for about 20 minutes or so; I come back to find the courier still waiting for the check - AND the COO in the lobby wondering why this guy isn't being taking care of and if I had called No. 2 buttinski to let her know the courier was waiting for her (which I had). I wanted to strangle both of them to the point of unconsciousness. (Really, that's all I wanted this post to be about but I had to somehow seque into the history of "buttinski" so my post wouldn't be a total rant.)

Which brings me to ants. They're social insects - a lot like people. Where they differ - in comparison to some of my co-workers - is that all ants do is THEIR JOB. That's it. And if something happens to alter the normal routine of doing their job, they adapt to other jobs quickly. And they teach their offspring how to do THEIR JOB.

I wish we could execute some buttinski's. And leave the ants' to their jobs.