Witty or sarcastic?!
Part of the brilliance of the hit television show Seinfeld was the wonderful sarcasm combined with simple humor and plausible situations made into outrageous, but believable scenes. You have no doubt been in real-life situations where the person speaking to you is sarcastic, impatient, or just plain rude. That's when I say to myself, HUH? What's up with that? Of course, I generally blame younger people, but if I was younger, it would be the fault of older people. See what I mean? But, in all fairness, there are times when it does seem it takes older people three times as long to do something as someone half his age.
Recently, I was in a drug store waiting patiently for an elderly gentleman to pay the cashier. Do you think he heard those imaginary groans from people behind him when he dug into his pocket looking for the exact coins to pay his bill? Of course, as if it had been scripted, he dropped a dime or two, bent over, tried his best to get a fingernail underneath the coins to pick them up, stood tall, continued the search for the right coins....well, you get the idea. That's when the 20 year old cashier looked at the person next in line, turned his eyes upward, furrowed his brow and shook his head back and forth. The look had the effect of immediately binding us together in a conspiracy against the elderly gentlemen. Was it a signal that the cashier understood our plight? Was he telling us he's on our side and he feels our pain? My initial impression was that he thought he was being witty. At the least, I thought he was being disrespectful and wondered if he ever knew his grandparents. As the line moved forward, he told every customer he was sorry for the delay. What?! But, I get it. Sometimes our patience runs thin regardless of age. However, it's hard to apply that same logic to my recent trip to a car dealer for a simple oil change.
I pulled into the QUICK OIL CHANGE lane of the dealership and drove into the garage as the automatic door did what it was supposed to do. There were a few cars in front of me, so the experience turned into an exercise in patience. When it was finally my turn, I explained to the 65 year old service tech I only wanted an oil change and asked how long it would take. He said, Oh, right now, about two hours. Shocked, I said, Well, what about the QUICK OIL CHANGE? He looked at me and replied, That's AFTER we start on your car. We're pretty quick then. I told him two hours was too long and maybe some other time. He told me how to exit the garage. I would have to go between three or four cars and snake back into the right hand lane each time. Oh, great. Put a scratch on a 60 thousand dollar Lincoln and there goes the trip to Florida next month. He saw the concern on my apparently very readable face and actually said to me, Want somebody younger to drive you out? Before I could answer, he got behind the wheel and expertly navigated the hodgepodge of cars and trucks and out we went. Pulling out of the auto dealership, I answered my telephone and it was one of my brothers who said, I just read your blog from last week and I've got a story for you!
Carl is a retired CEO of an accounting firm with offices around the world. In that capacity, he has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles. His credentials are impressive as clearly he has earned his stripes as a guest lecturer, guest speaker for numerous universities, served on ethical issues panels concerning accounting practices, and has been the recipient of many honors and awards over his 35 year career. Towards the end of his time, he was attending a cocktail reception being held in his honor at one of his field offices. As per the usual agenda prior to his speaking, he was circulating and socializing with employees and expressing his gratitude for their service when a much younger man came up to him and said, Still at it? Little long in the tooth aren't you? Carl, ever the diplomat simply looked at him, said Nice to see you, turned around and walked away. The expression on his face was indecipherable. Me? I'm pretty sure I'd have been saying, HUH What's up with that?
Recently, I was in a drug store waiting patiently for an elderly gentleman to pay the cashier. Do you think he heard those imaginary groans from people behind him when he dug into his pocket looking for the exact coins to pay his bill? Of course, as if it had been scripted, he dropped a dime or two, bent over, tried his best to get a fingernail underneath the coins to pick them up, stood tall, continued the search for the right coins....well, you get the idea. That's when the 20 year old cashier looked at the person next in line, turned his eyes upward, furrowed his brow and shook his head back and forth. The look had the effect of immediately binding us together in a conspiracy against the elderly gentlemen. Was it a signal that the cashier understood our plight? Was he telling us he's on our side and he feels our pain? My initial impression was that he thought he was being witty. At the least, I thought he was being disrespectful and wondered if he ever knew his grandparents. As the line moved forward, he told every customer he was sorry for the delay. What?! But, I get it. Sometimes our patience runs thin regardless of age. However, it's hard to apply that same logic to my recent trip to a car dealer for a simple oil change.
I pulled into the QUICK OIL CHANGE lane of the dealership and drove into the garage as the automatic door did what it was supposed to do. There were a few cars in front of me, so the experience turned into an exercise in patience. When it was finally my turn, I explained to the 65 year old service tech I only wanted an oil change and asked how long it would take. He said, Oh, right now, about two hours. Shocked, I said, Well, what about the QUICK OIL CHANGE? He looked at me and replied, That's AFTER we start on your car. We're pretty quick then. I told him two hours was too long and maybe some other time. He told me how to exit the garage. I would have to go between three or four cars and snake back into the right hand lane each time. Oh, great. Put a scratch on a 60 thousand dollar Lincoln and there goes the trip to Florida next month. He saw the concern on my apparently very readable face and actually said to me, Want somebody younger to drive you out? Before I could answer, he got behind the wheel and expertly navigated the hodgepodge of cars and trucks and out we went. Pulling out of the auto dealership, I answered my telephone and it was one of my brothers who said, I just read your blog from last week and I've got a story for you!
Carl is a retired CEO of an accounting firm with offices around the world. In that capacity, he has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles. His credentials are impressive as clearly he has earned his stripes as a guest lecturer, guest speaker for numerous universities, served on ethical issues panels concerning accounting practices, and has been the recipient of many honors and awards over his 35 year career. Towards the end of his time, he was attending a cocktail reception being held in his honor at one of his field offices. As per the usual agenda prior to his speaking, he was circulating and socializing with employees and expressing his gratitude for their service when a much younger man came up to him and said, Still at it? Little long in the tooth aren't you? Carl, ever the diplomat simply looked at him, said Nice to see you, turned around and walked away. The expression on his face was indecipherable. Me? I'm pretty sure I'd have been saying, HUH What's up with that?
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