When I was in my twenties and attending college I acquired the dubious privilege of becoming the caretaker for the dorm I was assigned to. "Why me?" I asked. Because I was the oldest, probably the most sensible, most in need of cheap rent, and willing to work for the pittance that the job paid. They had me at cheap rent and paid.
The dorm housed about twenty students and they were a fair mix. Most of them were your average college types, wanting to get their degrees so they could start earning big bucks. (I was one of this type.) There were a couple of idiots who wouldn't last the distance and a jock who assumed that kicking a ball hard was better than possessing brains. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the players who went on to become professionals had both brains and brawn. Brawn alone wouldn't cut it.
Naturally there were some troublesome students, two girls in particular. They were both about twenty, quite lovely, and both with different personalities. Tegan was the Karen type of woman. Never saw anything that she couldn't improve upon. There was only one way to do things -- her way. Try and do it another way and she'd be in your face, moaning and complaining. The type to count a box that said contents approx. 500 and then complain if there weren't 500 precisely. A genuine pain in the neck.
The other problem child was Naomi. A happy-go-lucky, free-spirited, young lady who enjoyed the world around her. She couldn't stand Tegan. If she would just leave Tegan alone I wouldn't mind the subtle hostility between the pair. However, Naomi went out of her way to trigger Tegan. For example, after the window washers had been around Naomi casually pointed out that they'd left a smear on Tegan's window. All Tegan needed to do was get a piece of cloth and wipe the offending smear away. Fat chance of that happening. Tegan went spare, denouncing all window washers and standing in my little office demanding the entire crew be brought back to clean her window and fire the man who left it smeared.
I promised to take care of the problem and almost pushed her out of my office. As soon as Tegan went to class I headed over to her place and wiped off the smear. Then I went looking for Naomi.
"Naomi, I want you to stop triggering Tegan. It interferes with my work. It interferes with the other students. It's breeding an unhappy atmosphere within the dorm. I want it stopped and I want it stopped now."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied, smiling and looking innocent.
"I'm talking about you smearing her window and then bringing it to her attention after the cleaners had left. Yes, you did. I saw you." The last bit because she'd been ready to deny the charge.
She capitulated, politely and apologetically.
"Ok, I'll behave. I didn't mean to cause anyone else trouble. Sorry about that."
"That's good. Now we don't need to worry about future consequences," I said, smiling.
"Consequences?" she said giving me a suspicious look.
"Mm. You know, retribution for misbehaviour."
"Retribution?" Still suspicious.
"Yes. I mean, I don't want to have to put you over my knee and spank you and I'm sure you don't want it either so we're in accord."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Keep telling yourself that. Bye now."
I departed.
When Tegan returned from her current classes I intercepted her and suggested we had a little talk. She was belligerent but agreed. As soon as we were comfortably seated in my office I began.
"Tegan, that smudge on your window has been removed."
"Oh, good. Was the careless employee terminated? He should be you know."
"I know no such thing. The window service did an impeccable job. Someone else smeared your window after they had finished."
"Why would anyone do that? Who was it? I want them expelled."
"Tegan, how much work do you think there was in wiping the smear off the window. I'll tell you. Two minutes to take a cloth, walk to the window, and wipe the smear off. How much time did it take for you to come down here and make a complaint? Far more than two minutes. You spent five minutes in here alone, ranting about the standards of window cleaners. Why didn't you wipe the window yourself?"
"Me? It's not my job to wash the windows."
I cut her off before she went into a full blown rant.
"Nobody is asking you to wash the windows. I'm just saying that if that smear irritated you the simplest solution was to wipe it off yourself. Why didn't you?"
She spluttered a bit but before she could make a defence I started in again.
"You didn't do it because no-one would have noticed you doing it. Complaining makes you the centre of attention. People notice you, making you feel important. Well, congratulations, I have decided to notice you. If I find you harassing other students or if you come in here with a frivolous complaint there will be repercussions, and you won't enjoy them."
"How dare you. I will complain to your superiors. You'll be fired."
"If you complain to my superiors I'll be happy to be fired. I doubt I will be because not everyone wants this job. But go ahead. It will give me a chance to demonstrate those repercussions."
"Just what are these vaunted repercussions of yours?" she demanded.
"I will take great pleasure in putting you over my knee and paddling your backside. You never know, maybe that will get me fired. I can only hope."
Tegan looked quite shocked at the thought of being spanked.