Me: So you lie to them.

Boss: Well, not exactly...You just make them think you’re saying something different than you are.

Me: So you manipulate them.

Boss: No. [Pause.] Well, kind of.

Me: Are you manipulating me now?

Boss: [Nervous laugh.]

He never did answer. It’s a joke now (I call him the Manipulator and he calls me a Cold B****). It’s funny (kind of), but every once in a while, I’m still troubled by the lesson that I’m painfully swallowing. As I look back, being tactless always had a tradeoff, but the price I had to pay was always worth being able to say the things I wanted to say. But now, at least at work, I find that I can no longer afford the price of that strangely exhilarating freedom.

So slowly, I’m learning to manipulate...I mean...manage others. And for that, a lot of well-meaning and inquisitive people (especially my mother) are glad.

Irene Y. Sun ‘07, a history and science concentrator in Mather House, is design chair of The Crimson. She wrote this postcard to manipulate you into thinking she likes to manipulate people.