How To Deal With Idiots
By: Claire Stapley
Tags: Life Lessons, Life, Advice, Self, Humor

How To Deal With Idiots

Don’t allow people with less knowledge to impact you.

Photo by Егор Камелев on Unsplash

Idiots are everywhere. We’ve all been an idiot at some point in our lives, however, there are pesky idiots who never seem to mature, grow up, or go away.

Like spiders in October, they always seem to creep into our lives.

The worst kind of idiots are the ones that you have to deal with in the workplace. Because let’s be real, you can’t escape from those damn people.

However, I had a “eureka” moment about two weeks ago, watching YouTube before going to bed.

A little bit of background before we dive in…so you understand the method behind my madness.

My boyfriend says that I obsess over certain films, notable people or books for weeks on end — and then the obsession disappears. He’s not wrong.

It’s definitely a product of me having OCD, but the positive I take from the obsession is that I sap as much information as possible from the film, book or person in question — then I move onto the next thing.

My most recent obsession has been chefs, cooking and food. This led me down a rabbit hole of (mostly) watching Gordon Ramsay scream at people whilst drinking my morning coffee, but also watching in-depth interviews with my ultimate Chef: Marco Pierre White.

As a child, my dad has been a huge MPW fan. His book I remember clearly being in the house (amongst Anthony Bourdain’s) and my dad regularly followed his recipes and practices. After all, my dad was a chef back in the 80s and *fun fact* cooked for The Godfather that is MPW on more than one occasion!

Anyway. I digress. Back to YouTube.

The interview(s) that really sucked me in were the ones where MPW spoke about giving back his Michelin stars, and what that really meant to him.

He explained that Michelin was to maintain a reputation, and in essence — MPW didn’t need to live that life forever as he’d already proved he was the OG of gastronomy.

The quote that stuck in my head was:

“I realised I was being judged by people who had less knowledge than me”

Mic drop.

Not only did that make me realise that my crippling self-doubt was usually inflicted by (complete) idiots, but also that this statement couldn’t be more applicable to anyone who has had to deal with unsolicited negativity or judgement by people who don’t even know their capabilities.

I’ve noticed that the people who spitefully judge, or comment, actually have no idea what they’re talking about. Their opinion is unsolicited, the comment has no weight. It’s not a constructive statement.

We all receive comments in life; opinions, musings — and for the most part, they’re positive, impactful, life-changing, perhaps.

But there are also the idiots out there who are committed to tearing people down, gaslighting them and generally just being, well — idiots.

I also feel like this quote by MPW is a great litmus test to see whether you’re actually surrounded by idiots, or whether you need to give your ego a check.

We’ve all been there. My ego and I fight regularly. I hate how I’m hot-headed and thought (nearly everybody) was an idiot growing up. I had that attitude knocked out of me pretty quickly after university, but, sometimes she comes back to cause me havoc. However, I’m only 25. Not the finished article yet!

If you are, in fact, surrounded by people who have more knowledge than you (or equal to) — it’s important to listen.

Similarly, even if someone has less knowledge than you, as long as they aren’t imparting negative or unnecessarily critical discourse, then you can probably learn something from them, too.

So, next time you’re dealing with an idiot, think about what MPW would do.

There will always be idiots in life who unfairly judge you, dust yourself off, move on — and remember… (they have less knowledge than you).