How To Handle A Bully Part Five

Ron is overweight and got teased about it a lot in high school so when a guy at work began to make jokes about his weight he decided to take action. Shame joking is a kind of bullying that is common in our culture. It serves no other purpose than to give a bully an opportunity to try and get away with some verbal abuse under the guise of a joke. Ron wasn’t having it so he approached the guy and said, “I don’t know who you are but I want you to stop with the comments.”  The guy said, “Can’t you take a joke!” Ron said, “Listen, you and I work here in the same place. We’ve got a little problem and I want to solve it in a friendly way. What do you want?” The guy said, “Hey we were just joking. Get over it, man.” Ron said, “Look, we work in the same place and I want things to be friendly. What do you want?” The guy said, “We are friendly, man. What’s your problem?” Ron said, “You haven’t answered my question.” The guy said, “What question?” Ron said, “We got a problem. I want this to be solved in a friendly way. What do you want?” The guy paused a moment and said, “Yeah, OK. See ya around.” The guy never bothered Ron again. Why did Ron’s approach work? It worked because Ron was direct, he spoke without a tone or threat in his voice, he persisted, he didn’t respond to the guy trying enroll him into an argument, and Ron asked the guy what he wanted after saying he wanted to be friendly. A bully can be stopped.