Stereotypes that people place on others really bother me.  Once someone has an idea or assumption about a person, even though it may not be true, they are stamped.  They are branded, and that really bothers me.  I’ll give you an example:  I started working at a place called KC’s restaurant about six years ago.  I remember the first day I went to work, my co-worker, Adam, which was the boss’s son, did not like me at all.  For the first two weeks I worked there, Adam had a vendetta against me, and it was so obvious to me.  Well there wasn’t anything I could do about it really, I mean I couldn’t confront him about it, because he was the bosses son, I mean come on, you know the boss would always side with the other person.  Well, I didn’t do anything but be myself to him, and then after two weeks he opened up a lot, and we became really good friends.  Just a side note, I really mean friends; I don’t just mean an acquaintance.  We would hang out away from work, go do things, etc… And I finally got comfortable enough around him to ask him why he treated me like he did.  And I’ll never forget what he said.  He said, “To be honest with you, I thought you were a spoiled little rich boy, since your dad runs a business, and you brought your own apron with you the first day of work (which I did, but I just assumed they wouldn’t have any yet, which they didn’t),” Well, I’m not rich, and I’m not spoiled (no more than any other American anyway)

So if you look at this situation, what did Adam do?  He took a fairly decent person, branded him, and blew him off.  Most people wouldn’t respond to Adam as I did.  Most people would blow him off and just think that he’s a jerk.  Well I didn’t do that; I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  Not saying that I’m anything special by doing that, but that’s just me.  I would have stereotyped him if I’d have called him a jerk, and we never would have hung out, and it would have changed my life completely.

Another point I want to add in.  I know some people that base their opinions completely off what other people say, and have the nerve to go and claim that someone is doing something to them, (i.e. dislikes them, stalking them, following them, hating them) when in all reality they have no idea whether that is true or not.  They may base it on the opinion of others, for example what their friends said about the person.  How can you form an opinion of someone that you don’t even know or have never met?  That is beyond me, but that’s the world for you.