Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Looking For The Wizard Behind The Curtain

A colleague told me about a phone call he received from a friend that began with the question, "How are you doing?....and don't give me the PR [public relations] version".

Often when people ask, "How are you doing?", they are not excepting a real answer; they just want to hear the PR. Since most our daily conversations are on this extremely superficial level, I also respond to this question with my stock answer of "very good".

I found this caller's comment about PR to be very interesting since it showed consciousness of our use of meaningless words and phrases. It expressed a desire to cut through the small talk and get to the heart of the matter.

1 Comments:

At November 23, 2005 at 1:31:00 PM EST, Blogger MC Aryeh said...

I went through a phase as a teenager when I refused to engage in small talk at all. If it wasn't deep and meaningful, I did not want to engage in conversation. As I matured, I realized how necessary small talk is in life - it builds relationships and makes conversation less awkward. It also allows for genuine surprise when someone asks you sincerely how you are doing...

 

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