Has this ever happened to you? Yeah, probably not. It’s a funny memory now, but at the time, I wasn’t too happy about it.
I had to be about 7 years old. My friend, Andy, and I were playing together and I climbed to the very top of the swing set and was hanging from it when Andy promptly pantsed me. Well, technically, he shortsed me. I was pissed! I dropped down, pulled my shorts up and went home. Obviously, I didn’t see it coming. Andy wasn’t even like that. He wasn’t a rascal you had to keep an eye on. He was mostly just a nice kid, a good buddy. Andy’s punishment? No me for the rest of the day. The next day it was business as usual. I don’t think I even said anything to him about it.
Me – right before I left
I spent 13 years in manufacturing which, as you might guess, is male-dominated. I had lots of guy friends and a group of 5 or 6 of them used to play basketball at the local rec center during lunch. One day they decided that they needed to use the ladder that was leaned on the wall in the gym. For what, you ask. Who knows? They’re guys. Anyway, my friend, Brad, was up on the ladder when one of the other guys pantsed him and – surprise! – he was commando.
After all the hullabaloo, Brad dispensed with the pants altogether.
I heard this story second hand, thank God. While I’m sure it was freaking hilarious, I’m glad I wasn’t there. It would have thrown an extremely awkward wrench into my professional relationship with Brad. Brad’s response to the prank? He arrived back at work laughing about it right along with the rest of the guys.
Obviously, the better title for this post would have been, “Pantsed, Commando, on a Ladder.” Unfortunately, that was Brad’s story, not mine. No, make that fortunately.
One day of pouting is all I’ll allow. Wait…is that how you look when you pout? Carry on, then.
What’s my point? I guess it’s this…if you get pantsed, by a person or by life, laugh it off and get back to work. Or, if you must, go home and pout about it for a day and then get on with it. It probably won’t be your last pantsing so you might as well learn to deal with it.