Bitch against bullies

The great Sirius Black (and not the wise wizard Albus Dumbledore, as I originally wrote-- thanks for pointing out my mistake, Mae!) said, "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." I strongly believe that a person's character shows in how s/he deals with people of lower rank or social standing. That is why on first dates, I pay particular attention to how a guy treats the waiters, because those who are rude to servicepeople are usually snooty, ill-tempered bullies beneath their preppy clothes and courtly manners. And man, do I hate bullies. This may come as surprising, considering how bitchy I can be, but I consider bitching and bullying 2 completely different things. A bitch (a good, proper bitch anyway) acts nasty because she finds fault in something or someone. A bully pushes people around simply because they can. A bitch is selective in her nastiness, and usually only chooses targets worthy of her precious time. A bully just terrorizes anyone who's weaker and easy pickings.

You can ask anyone who knows me well enough: despite my bitchy tendencies, I always make it a point to be nice to those "below" me, including waiters, security guards, our office staff, our salesgirls, our household help, the maintenance men and janitors at ICA... people often taken for granted and overlooked (to the point where even a simple "thank you" is foregone), or worse, abused. Bullies are abominable because given that they're already in positions of power or hold sway over others, they use that very dominance to crush the dignity of their inferiors. The bastards have all the advantages birthright or wealth or society have bestowed upon them, and the best they can do with those advantages, those blessings, is step on the downtrodden to make them even more miserable? That's plain despicable. I'm not even talking about outright physical or verbal abuse; the mere lack of basic courtesy towards others-- shoddy dismissals, careless put-downs, hurtful remarks, condescending tones-- it does enough damage. To think that most bullies are well-educated and come from well-to-do families. How's that for good breeding?

So to all you power-tripping, thoughtless, greedy bullies out there: you may be bigger and badder, and you may always get your way, but a bully is always the smaller, lesser person. And you are just not worth this bitch's time.