"...anyway, shove it up your bum, Missis!"

(Tweet sent to me on Twitter @askjoshsmom).

When I received this tweet, I was stunned! Why would anyone write this? I had to read it a couple of times just to make sure I was reading it correctly.

The person who tweeted this, started following me on Twitter a while ago. She asked me to "like" her Facebook page. I checked it out and "Liked" it, as she'd asked. She in turn, "liked" my Askjoshsmom page. All good. Or so I thought.

Next thing I know, she starts sending me tweets about how rude I was being and how I wasn’t “keeping up my end of the bargain.” What!?! I had no idea to what this person was referring.

I tweeted her asking for some clarification. What had I done to upset her? I wanted to understand, so I tweeted her a couple of more times without any response. When I checked, it turns out she’d blocked me.

I was perplexed. Still am. Obviously, this woman had some misconception in her head and thought I had wronged her in some way. She didn’t even take the time to try and hear my side, whatever that may have been, since I still don’t have any idea what triggered her irrational behavior.

All the while, my tweets to her were polite, and simply asking for clarification. Even after she told me to “shove it!” I didn’t take her bait.

See, the thing is that this woman, whomever she is, by her behavior, defined herself as rude, quick to jump to conclusions, and having no ability to resolve things in a grown up, mature way. I’m sure this woman has problems in most of her personal relationships.

I did not respond to her rudeness because that’s just not who I am. I simply “unliked” her page and moved on.

We are all going to run into people like that woman, who react in a crazy and irrational way; who will insult us and feel justified.

Don’t take the bait. Continue being true to your character. If you allow their behavior to change yours, you are then just like them. Don’t do it. If a person refuses to discuss things in a rational matter, then it really is impossible to carry on any kind of conversation. Just move on until they’re ready to discuss rationally. They may never be, and that will have to be okay.

Just don’t change your good character, because someone else’s bad character challenges you!