An interesting exchange just took place in my local garage… (I should explain that our village shop is actually the petrol station, that’s rural living for you these days).
So… behind the counter is our lovely store owner, who is of asian descent, with a very srtong accent. The customer in front of me in the queue was of english descent, with a very strong northern accent. A conversation between them ensued in which niether seemed to have a clue what the other was saying, but the gist was that the customer was complaining about the fact the microwave was broken and he couldn’t heat his sandwich up. The store owner understood enough to offer use of the staff microwave, which was totally bypassed by the customer, who angrily put the sandwich back, store owner no idea what is going on charging him for it anyway and then had to refund…
Even with an impeccable talent for hearing things sideways (that’s what having young kids does for you…) I only just could make out what was going on, but these two seemed to have their conversation at speed, totally ignoring or misunderstanidng what the other said.
I thought aftewards it was rather comical really, but actually they both would have come away from that conversation irritated with the other! And it made me think, how often do we do that? We make decisions at speed or take offence when it is not intended, or misunderstand someones view because we are too quick to make a decision in what we think has happened or been said…
In a previous job, which I had been in for some years I should like to say, a colleague accused me of always being cross with them, and to stop being grumpy. In fact I had never been cross with them and I was amazed at what she was accusing me of. It turned out that she always felt that the way I spoke to her sounded like I was being short with her. It was a revelation I can tell you, especially when I came home and told my husband who agreed with my colleague…!!
Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them. Proverbs 29:20
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