Why Are People A Pain in the Neck? Three Reasons...

I get this question frequently, in one form or another, usually with a tone of utter exasperation.  And the question really is about why "dealing with people" or "managing people" is the most difficult aspect of their jobs.

One reason is the sheer complexity of the human being.  A person is an incredibly intricate organism, with all sorts of systems (physical, neurological, etc.) working at the same time, and trying to operate in an environment (everything outside the person) that is even MORE complex. 

With all these systems pulling and tugging, a person is bound to be difficult at some point.

Another reason is emotion.  We're capable of many emotions, but they all stem from three primary emotions:  Anger, fear, and joy.  Whatever emotion you name, it will be a variant of one of the Big Three.  When we get emotional, we throw rationality out the window. 

If we took emotions out of the equation, we'd have a lot of logical, rational thought, and although we wouldn't have as many people problems, the world would be pretty boring.

The third reason is all the baggage we carry around inside our heads.  That baggage, most of it emotional, stays with us, even when we don't realize it's there.  Because of the emotional baggage, we do things that make us a pain in the neck at times.

And there's a lot of baggage, going all the way back to our childhoods.

Someone can probably come up with more reasons people are a pain in the neck.  Heck, I'll probably think of some.  But for right now, three reasons will have to do.