At dinner, Sean was telling me about the daily drama at his office. One of his assistants was already in a bit of a tizzy after a client got worked up after she (the assistant) referred to a payment reminder as a “nasty gram.” While she was calming down from that fiasco, another client kindly asked her when her baby was due.
She’s not pregnant.
She was, understandably, perturbed by the conversation, and went to Sean for a sympathetic ear.
“The thing is,” he told me, “I’m really good at listening to people…”
“No, you’re not,” I interrupted. “You’re just good at pretending to listen for awhile.” I might have some experience with this phenomenon. Daily.
“OK, I’m really good at seeming like I’m paying attention to the type of people who feel like coming to me with this kind of stuff,” he conceded. “But I never know what to say to them.”
“You don’t look pregnant, might have been a good choice,” I offered.
“So, you think I should lie?”
OK, having never met her, I didn’t anticipate that.
“So, what did you say to her?” I asked.
“I told her that maybe she was just retaining water today.”
I laughed so hard I almost cried. He’s probably lucky she didn’t quit on him.
Mixed Nuts 