Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Dangit, What Was My Horoscope For Today?

I went into Subway a little while ago, where I

  • spilled most of my drink on the tray all over the table, chair and floor as soon as I set the tray down,

  • caught my shirt's short sleeve on the door lever to the men's room (fortunately, it wasn't damaged),

  • mistakenly thought the door was locked, so someone tried to walk in on me while I was drying my hands,

  • locked the door and then forgot both that I had done so and that I had brought the key in with me, so I locked the key in the men's room, forcing all customers (including the one who almost walked in on me and then snapped at me for leaving the door unlocked) to use the ladies' room for the time being and

  • got some meatball sauce on my silk shirt which will now need to be dry-cleaned.

(Of course I profusely apologized for [1] and [4] multiple times. And they know and like me there.)

I take a sort of pleasure out of getting all of my bad luck out of the way in one sitting.

At least I wasn't unlucky the way so many Germans were 76 years ago today.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Good Manners When Job Hunting

Yesterday afternoon, at a drinking fountain by the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland:

Young Man #1: Don't say "understaffed" - that's insulting.

Young Man #2: (Interested look.)

Young Man #1: Say "I understand that you may need people sometime in the future."

Monday, June 28, 2010

Dishing Out Subtlety

Hello,

Emily and I just got back from a 25-hour vacation* to Ocean City, Maryland - a family-oriented seashore vacation area.

After we finished breakfast, I left our cash tip on the table. Emily asked me to put it under the lip of her dish, which confused me just a tad. After all, the dish would cover maybe one-fifth of the tip (which was paper), so the money would be out in plain sight anyway. Being a thoughtful well-trained husband, I put it under the lip of the dish.

When I asked her what good she thought it would do, she said it would be more subtle.

That's like much of what NTs do that I have difficulty understanding: If something is going to be obvious one way or the other, what's gained by doing it more "subtlely"?

What do you think?

[*] We pulled out of our parking spot at home just after 5pm yesterday; we opened our front door again just before 6pm today.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Just Another Negative Example (JANE)

Just like these debt collectors and this fictional character, here's another NT - this time Congressman Bob Etheridge from North Carolina - who has graciously volunteered to help show the difference between intentional misconduct and social faux pas:

(This is SFW, though you might ask small children to go elsewhere.)





H/T: Ambulance Driver.

Monday, June 14, 2010

People Watching Through Your PC

Judging from this (SFW) Onion article:

(1) How would you describe Rich Zeger in a word or three?

(2) What about Jodi Hennings?

(3) What would you advise Dave Klapisch, and why?

Also, Happy Flag Day!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

D-Day!

Sixty-six years ago today, Allied armies (U.S., Canadian, British and others) stormed the beaches at Normandy (northern France), to begin the end of World War II in Western Europe. Over the following eleven months, they drove the occupying Germans out of France, Belgium and the Netherlands and then invaded Germany itself from the west.

At the same time, the Soviet Union fought its way through Poland and then invaded Germany from the east, including occupying Berlin. Adolf Hitler committed suicide, along with his new bride Eva Braun, on April 30, 1945, and Germany unconditionally surrendered on May 7. World War II (in Europe) actually ended at midnight on the night of May 8, now known as V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

More NTs Not To Emulate

Like the previously profiled NT, this is a group of people who could use social skills - and here maybe also elementary decency - training. Unlike the other guy, these folks are real. And also this has a happy ending.

(SFW, but only because the language has been censored.)



H/T: Kenya McCullum, Workplace Communication Examiner.