#gregory is always 100% done with people despite understanding them to the T

[starry-skies-116]

Gregory does not understand teamwork. Like, at all. He understands why it’s necessary, but he just can’t put it into practice himself because people are so damn confusing and its a curse seeing right through to them sometimes.

He tends to lose patience easily and quickly when people aren’t as efficient or as hardworking as him, which leads to the whole predicament only further adding fuel to the fire that is his internal loneliness and the fact that he lacks any charisma or social skills when it comes to regular social situations and environments, hence his terse and formal, restrained demeanor around literally everyone that doesn’t know him on a personal level. Because of this, people think that his blood runs a bit cold upon their first impression of him.

The truth is that he has a largely self-serving outlook due to his heavy distrust and loss of faith altogether in humanity, his world revolving around the pursuit of his goals and the happiness of his family and himself, as well as a fulfilling, prosperous future. Gregory doesn’t wish to take responsibility for the actions of others and suffer repercussions- he doesn’t wish to take on the natural responsibilities, roles and qualities of a leader willing to sacrifice everything for their men, and can’t comprehend how self-sacrifice is noble. Moreover, his expectations for his group is absurdly high- he expects a team of capable people who are willing to shoulder their own responsibility and carry their own weight, willing to take their part seriously to get work done- he expects PERFECT team synchronization and communication. If he doesn’t have the benefits that he attains from teamwork, pride and confidence in the capabilities of his teammates, and the authority to order them as he sees fit, he deems it better to work alone: if he has no authority over them, he cannot take responsibility for their antics. He doesn’t wish to be a leader without the proper benefits, even though he has all the qualifications of being one.

Even as Evan, most of his experiences with group projects were utterly nightmarish, a sentiment he shares deeply with Cassidy- they have unyielding faith and trust in each other because they were paired up and relied actively on each other to complete the project step by step, and they have been there for each other time and time again to complete the task ahead of them- something Gregory sees as what teamwork should be. For literally anyone else, blind trust is a surefire way to get yourself in the worst situation possible.

“Please, please, do your part and carry your weight and don’t be a lazy asshole, I BEG of you. Just do that, and you’ll be fine.”

On the bright side, this grants him a productive, diligent, hardworking and no-nonsense attitude for a leader- obstinate and domineering, making no special circumstances and taking no excuses. His knack to discern the true intentions of others also allows him to take on an administrative and strategic role almost effortlessly, assigning people to certain tasks based on what he sees as fit. One has to admire his tenacity when it comes to this. His constant striving for results when it comes to work, and his willingness to take necessary risks and calculate his moves (having common sense and arriving at the simplest, quickest solution to any problem) enables him to have NO slackers or lazy people among those who work with him.

On the other hand, when people don’t take their responsibilities seriously, or by contrast, don’t take him and his attempt at leadership and responsibility seriously, Gregory becomes IMMENSELY frustrated and hateful to the point where he can be pretty cruel and dismissive of them and their circumstances, no matter how busy or hard their lives may be. He refuses to make any further attempts to listen to people and work past their differences when they actively mock him or refuse to cooperate with him, instead relying on warnings and sometimes force to make them get things done. He will NOT take ANY responsibility for the wrongdoings of other people and will NOT try to fix their mistakes, believing that they only have themselves to blame for failing to crush any obstacles that come their way- Gregory utterly HATES that about the group project format: one engine sputtering out or failing means the whole damn ship goes down. It is ONLY when the circumstances are actively explained to him that he can accommodate accordingly and actually open himself up to listen to other people, and help them with their problems so that they can be more efficient and motivated.

His hatred of teamwork is partially due to his misanthropy and heavy distrust festering towards other people, as well as Selective Group Memory Paradox- again, owing it to his paranoia and how much he has a love-hate relationship with humanity and people in general. He’s pretty obsessive, and pretends he doesn’t want help, but he just wants deep down a team of capable people who respect him and are willing to work with him as much as he is willing to work with them- mutual respect and toleration that fosters into a healthy acquainted relationship, if you will.

“I’m just giving you all a quick warning, alright? If you don’t fulfill your duty and pull your weight, we are going to fail and I’m throwing you under the bus, no excuses. I don’t care if you’re sick or whatever- you had better get your part done and not drag everyone down with you, m’kay? I don’t care what the result is, just produce an optimal outcome and give your best effort. I’ll even fix it for you- just get something done, ANYTHING done.”

However, he does value the contributions of his teammates when they DO get something done, and once they’ve proved their worth, capability and trustworthiness to him, he values them incredibly as both people and as valuable assets to future projects and group endeavors, even with their differences.