It's Not Personal?

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone told me, "It's not personal, it's just business."  What the fuck is that supposed to mean?  I mean I understand the words and the intended meaning behind it but really...it's NOT personal?  Then how come your decision is affecting ME?   And 99% of the time when someone says, "It's not personal, it's business," it's a signal to me that there is a crock of shit about to come my way, that there is a negative consequence in there for someone and that someone is usually me.

I get it that sometimes you have to make decisions at work that do affect other people negatively and you don't necessarily want to cause that kind of grief but you have to.  I totally get that, but cut the crap.  Quit taking the coward way out by saying, "It's not personal, it's just business."  Yes, yes it is personal.  When it's happening to ME, it's personal.  When it's affecting ME, it's personal.  When it causes ME additional work, it's personal.  So quit making excuses.  You had to make a hard decision that causes me some kind of grief in one form or another.  Often times, it involves absolutely nothing that I did or didn't do, it just happened, I get that, but it's still personal when I'm the one having to deal with it.  I find it far easier to accept and deal with when you are straight up honest with me about it, rather than the cop-out "it's not personal, it's just business" bullshit.

Why can't people just own their shit?  I mean really, just own it.  Nobody is perfect, not a single one of us.  No one expects you or me to be perfect.  So when we screw up or inadvertently have to cause someone distress in some fashion or other, just own it.  I have no problem whatsoever telling people that I totally agree with them about how something or other sucks or isn't right or makes life harder or whatever, but the bottom line is it's got to happen, for whatever reason. 

Sometimes people accuse me of being too blunt and straightforward.  Well, okay, maybe I am blunt and straightforward but do you really want me to sugar-coat everything for you?  Do you really want me to tell you what you WANT to hear?  I personally have too much respect for others to want to shovel a load of shit just to pacify them for the moment.  Guess what, life sucks, that's just a part of it.  No getting around that.  It would be nice if we could but unfortunately, that's not the case.  So, while I don't want to hurt you or cause you grief, I'm probably going to because that's just the way the cookie crumbles.  And so we can either sit around and bitch and piss and moan about it - which is sometimes warranted - or we can just suck it up and go on.  And the last thing I want to do is hurt someone or cause them additional work, but sometimes...it just has to happen.  And you know what?  It IS personal (unfortunately) because it's affecting YOU, and yes it is business too.  So, let's all be adult and realize that as the old saying goes, "shit happens, and then you die."  I think I can deal with that much easier than someone trying to sell me a load of horseshit telling me, "It's not personal, it's business."  Yeah, whatever dude.  I didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday.  I know a good snow job when I see one. 

Incidentally, I had a roommate in college who used to get the terms "snow job" and "blow job" mixed up.  OH BOY did that make for some interesting and extremely awkward conversational moments.