"Never meant to"

 You, too, must have been a victim of such a behaviour pattern some time or the other. The other party involved consciously, knowingly misbehaves in a such a subtle way that you cannot exactly put a finger on it though you know very well that it is conscious misdemeanor.

 If you ignore it, it continues with equal subtle finesse. If you snap at it, the cat-n-mouse game has reached its apogee because the manipulative wrong-doer turns round and says, she (most often, though not always) never ever meant any such thing, and that YOU chose to misunderstand!

Smart assess such people are. These cookies know how to sweetly play the imaginary victim card, too.Tears are so much at their beck-n-call that these born actresses would never ever want glycerine. They know the wonderful art of eliciting the sympathy of the unsuspecting spectators who most often are the credulous crew of the scenario.

Certain relatives and relations are excellent at such manipulative manoeuvoring, the in-laws of the female variety, the oh-so-sweet young types. In any power game, such feline types would faultlessly assume the victim role while actually they are the victimisers, and the guileless onlookers whom they turn in to current alibi are sooner than later going to be their future victims.

How to deal with such skilful "never meant to, you chose to misunderstand" types? I suppose, leave the place/situation/ context immediately, and  preferably forever as the "never intended to" are experts at repeat performances, and the audience sympathies are  obviously won over by them.

Instead of fuming and fretting over such irritating manipulation, avoiding such scenarios and subtly letting the perpetrators know that you are privy to their agency, i suppose, would be the better options. And, oh, yes, let go of any resentment, and cock a mental smirk at the " never intended" types. Life hardly deserves being wasted on such subtle cat-n-mouse games.

Pratima@A (wo)man may simper and smirk,                     and yet be the vamp(ire)!