What's Wrong With Being Nice?

Now it may be the copious cups of tea that I have consumed today or the soul-destroying train strike or even the horrendous cold/flu I'm currently battling with at the moment but I'm feeling pretty fed up.  Before I get to what it is that is causing this strife, let me explain that the catalyst that caused this blog post was binge-watching the last 5 episodes of The Apprentice or, to be more apt, Lord Sugar's attitude in these episodes.  Now, I love The Apprentice and I'm also well aware that it's reality TV so I know that the majority of it is scripted or, at the very least, heavily manipulated to create drama and storylines.  What I cannot stand (brace yourself, you're now about to find out what the cause of my strife is...) and what I realised I could not stand after the theme being repeated throughout the 5 episodes of The Apprentice is the attitude that being 'nice' is a bad thing.  Seriously, you could create a drinking game for how many times Lord Sugar uses the word 'nice' and practically scrunches his nose up in disgust at the mere thought.

What is so wrong with being 'nice' and also, since when did being 'too nice' become a negative thing?  Afterall, if I'm honest, I'd much rather work with or be friends with someone who is 'too nice' than someone who is 'too horrible'.  I find this whole anti-niceness mindset both confusing and really depressing - why should we assume that we must be mean and cut throat to succeed and why should those in influential positions be advocates of this?  It's ludicrous.  People too often consider 'niceness' as a weakness but the problem here is that the reason it's deemed a weakness is because the non-nice individuals (friends, colleagues or even strangers in the street) that exist out there choose to take advantage of this decent attribute seen in others and, guess what?  This doesn't make nice people weak, it just makes the advantage-takers lousy human beings.  I certainly don't want to be telling my future children that the only way they'll succeed in life is by being arrogant, nasty, cut-throat S.O.Bs but this seems to be the gist of what Lord Sugar imparts on the candidates and the viewing public in every goddamn episode and it's infuriating.

The other day, for example, someone mentioned to me that I was so nice that if I was in a horror film, I'd probably be the first one to get killed off - and I think that sums up exactly the mindset of people today.  Why does my being nice mean that nothing positive will come from it?  I'm not hugely religious but one of my favourite quotes comes from the Bible and this is 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' (Luke 6:31) and I thoroughly believe that there is nothing wrong with thinking that way.  If anything, it's common sense that I would treat someone how I would want to be treated, it's not rocket science!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect and I'm sure there are times when I'm not nice as we all have our moments, but I will never stop wanting to be nice because that's a fundamental part of who I am and that sure as hell does not mean that I won't succeed in either my personal or working life.  So, before I tell you that 'I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and we'd all eat and be happy'* and you yell back at me, 'She doesn't even go here!'*, all I ask is that we start viewing being 'nice' in a postive light and consider that maybe, just maybe, we can be both successful AND nice (*gasp*) because, if I'm honest, that'd be pretty ni.....great!

*If these two quotes mean nothing to you then I suggest you view the below video (skip to 1:02 for the good bit) pretty imminently or I may not be so nice in future**

**That was a lie, I'll still be nice because I'm awesome like that.  You're welcome.