sounds really horrible, rifke. i guess if you'd started laughing all of a sudden, because of a funny joke you remembered, their funny visages would all of a sudden crumble to pieces, all the misery eventually taking control of their bodies, flesh falling off their bones, everything collapsing in front of your eyes. i'm sorry, that they cannot accept you as the charming and funny person you are. must be hell.
probably these people need someone they can put into the role of the moper, or else they finally would have to acknowledge their own antisocial tendencies which is most likely forbidden in their circles. but then, on the other hand, they help you to identify something in your character that you have in common with morrissey, or not? maybe they are unconsciously doing you a favour?
one of my colleagues, who had a nervous breakdown last year, has to attend a laughter yoga class at the moment to deal with her stress issues. whenever she feels under stress, which happens quite often, she places a hand on her belly, closes her eyes, and starts "laughing" in an absurd way, which sounds more like a hoarse dog's barking, a grotesque smile distorting her face, and after awhile she is finishing off the laughter with some relieved "aaaaahs" and "uuuuuuhs", wiping away tears of joy from her cheeks. it's a madhouse, rifke, believe me. in another yoga class she has learned some breathing techniques, so that she is not just laughing all the time, but most recently also combining the laughter with heavy, saccadic gasps of breath, something women do while in labour pains, standing there with pursed lips, puffing hard, as if there was no tomorrow. i really feel sorry for her.
so my workplace has not just turned into a madhouse in recent years, but also a delivery unit. all this gives me a really hard time, i tell you.
