Pages

Wednesday, March 2

what people want to hear

Lately I've been thinking over some things in my life and came to nearly same conclusion as truthful angler in 'Three men in a boat" by Jerome K. Jerome.
The book itself is perfection of classics, so if you haven't read it... indulge your sin :)

What most people want to hear from you is not truth. No way. Even not "nearly truth". No freaking way.
When they ask something, they already know what answer they want. That's nothing new.
But what's more is the fact that most people don't want to hear any rightful doubt. Like when they ask you "will my favorite guinea pig live after I gave it ammonia?" they want to hear "but yes, of course" and nothing less. Nothing else is permitted and taken into consideration. And if they ask you "can you do it?" they want "yes" without any ifs, doubts and conditions. Also they want to know the price without ifs and conditions.
No details either.

If you were entrusting your life to a surgeon who's about to perform risky surgery, you'd like to know details.
Why they don't you want to know details of something that may not be life threatening immediately, though in a future may lead to a great loss?
Is it just laziness?

...returning to the point...
I remember one scene that has taken place in my life. A person was asking me something like "will you learn Chinese to fluent level if needed?" and was greatly dissatisfied with the fact that I didn't say "sir yes sir" or something. I expressed willingness to start learning Chinese with all my effort and watch how it goes, but said I can't guarantee I'd be fluent in a year. What that person wanted to hear was what most people would answer: "but of course I'd be fluent in no time! (I'm so self-assertive, so smart, so willing, I'd do it in less than a year)". We know that "but of course" part wouldn't be true in most cases. Still, people want that lie.

Well, when in Rome, do as Romans do.
That's my conclusion for today.

No comments:

Post a Comment