I had several interesting conversations today with several professional people about how the world has changed. The big change that we’ve agreed upon is how often times people don’t really mean what they say when they are in face to face conversations. There are no economics tied to it as seems to been happening within the cross-cut of society. I was showing an older gentleman and his daughter a home today and more than once he said to me, “Now I want you to give it to me straight. No pussy-footing around the truth about this home.” My response more that once was, “I am telling you like it is.” He went on to say how much he dis-likes how people have become so two-faced when dealing with him for goods and services. I certainly can’t disagree with him on that point as more than once I find people not following through with what they often times tell me on the phone. Are we “supposed to” forget what people say even when they make extra assurances? A tradesperson got fired today for not following the instructions of a homeowner, and likely that person will find infinite reasons why it wasn’t their fault. Taking ownership of failure is a difficult bird to swallow but it is part of the learning curve of doing a good job and maintaining an acceptable level of excellence.
It’s the strangest thing, I was at a gathering this evening and one of the people in charge came up to me to talk about how he has such a problem with the system in that so often times people are chosen for a job not based on their real abilities, but rather how loud and in your face they can get. I said to him, “Just watch how they act after you’ve turned your back. You’ll notice how they’ve almost metamorphosed themselves when going on to converse with another.” They’ve developed a form of manipulating the crowd—it’s almost as though they have numerous masks they wear within the group. I’ll never forget a young salesperson at a gathering talking about how gullible the public is and believing if they are stupid enough to accept what some of the nearly fantastic things they are told, then they deserve to be duped. I was in shock and believe it or not, I got into a rather heated debate with that person to the point I had to leave because they couldn’t get the point; what we intentionally do to others will likely sooner or later come back to us. I was on the phone today with one of my colleagues who in the past has walked away from discussions with either a Chesire cat grin or a sardonic smile. For some, it’s a knee-jerk reaction. Watch more closely for them.
