ASSUMING THE WORST

A story I came across this morning has been on my mind all day.

It's a sad little story about an older man working at a company where a new project required two normally isolated departments to work together.

This man thought the project was a great idea and so he joked to a young co-worker from the other department, "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"

If you are my age or older, you will immediately recognize this as a reference to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercials from decades ago. In those ads, two people would collide into each other, one carrying a chocolate bar and the other an open jar of peanut butter. The chocolate ends up in the jar. Momentarily irritated, both quickly realize they have discovered "two great tastes that taste great together". 

Anyway, this man quoted this commercial and later that day was called to the HR department. The young lady had reported him for possible harassment! 

She didn't know what he meant with his comment about chocolate and peanut butter, but she figured it was some weird sexual innuendo. 

One of the most unfortunate aspects of fallen human nature is our penchant for assuming the worst about other people's motives. Once you notice it, you will see it everywhere.

Even in your own heart.