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May 30, 2008
Another good thing about being a guy
"So, you got anything going on this weekend," I asked one of the Electrical Engineers as we strolled out of work Friday afternoon.
"I ..." and as soon as he started his sentence I realized we'd already had this conversation. He was going to West Virginia (which is Wild and Wonderful, if you've ever seen their license tags).
And you know how he completed his thought? He said, "I'm going to West Virginia," the Wild and Wonderful being understood and often left out of casual conversation. But that's not the important part.
The important part is that he didn't get his feelings hurt because he thought I didn't pay attention to him the first time we'd talked about this and he didn't accuse me of going behind his back and paying more attention to the Mechanical Engineers' weekend plans.
He just told me what he was going to do.
As a matter of fact, when I apologized for making him repeat our earlier conversation he was polite enough to pretend he'd forgotten about it, "We already talked about this?" was all he said.
Why? Because we're guys.
Which means we don't get torqued out of shape about things like having to repeat stuff we've said.
And, there's a 95% chance he had no recollection of the earlier conversation either.
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Posted by delmer at May 30, 2008 6:17 PM
Comments
I learned this lesson years ago with my friend Les. hehe. Even now, if I start, "Did I tell you about the skunk I saw?" he'll probably remember the actually story he repeated a gadzillion times and my being able to butt in while he was telling somebody and finish the story for him.
That is the only story I ever did that on. Because I could. I forgave him when he reminded me that I repeat myself a lot more than he repeated himself.
I forgave him when he reminded me... oh, doing it again.
Posted by: Sue at June 2, 2008 7:02 AM
"...And, there's a 95% chance he had no recollection of the earlier conversation either."
Yeah, bingo. Male or female, the average American attention span is now 7 seconds. The average American MEMORY span is 4 seconds. While disturbing, these stats often play to our advantage by sparing us embarrassing situations. : )
Posted by: John at June 2, 2008 10:46 AM
As much as I forget what stories I've told to whom, I always preface what I say with, "I may be repeating myself, so if I am, please stop me..."
I also try not to hold that flaw against others, either. I just will gently stop them and say, "Oh yeah, you told me about that before..." with a smile.
We're all human...
Posted by: Ginger at June 2, 2008 11:28 AM
Sue: Based on the genes that run in my family I'm destined to fall into the habit of repeating the same thing over and over.
John: You know, there are embarrassing things I wish I could forget that seem to be locked up in my memory tighter than a drum ... and things I need to know that slip out of my memory as soon as I put them in there.
Ginger: I do a lot of the "if I've told you this, stop me" stuff. Too much of what I say isn't all that interesting the first time around; I'd hate to make people sit through it twice. I'm sure that's not why you give the warning. :)
Posted by: delmer at June 2, 2008 11:59 AM