Around The Sun: Listen Up
Has it ever occurred to you that common sense isn’t all that common. Steve Harrison tells a cautionary tale.
A good friend of mine, whom I have known from years and years, suffers from a condition which seems to be endemic to the human race.
He wanted to send some money which he owed me. “I’ll send it by Western Union,’’ he said.
I told him I thought that was an expensive way to transfer money.
“No problem,’’ said he. “Been doing it for years. I know how it works.’’
I realised in advance that he wouldn’t yield, so I had been around town collecting the addresses of local banks which co-operated with Western Union. I gave him the list of addresses.
“Don’t need that,’’ he said. “I know what I’m doing. Like I told you, I’ve been sending money this way for years.’’
So off he went on his globe-trotting way.
A week later he sent me an urgent text message, asking me to supply the address of a bank in my area which dealt with Western Union. It took me half an hour to find that list of Western Union agents. I was just about to send him a text message when he phoned me.
“I’m waiting here in a Western Union office,’’ he complained. “I’m waiting for your local branch details.’’
I gently pointed out that I had tried to give him a list containing those details.
“Okay, okay,’’ he said irritably. “Man this is an expensive phone call! It’s going to cost me more than $200!’’
To cut a long and frustrating story short, we figured out another way that he could send me the money.
And I ended up thinking of a piece of good advice which I heard long ago.
- You have two ears, two eyes, but only one mouth. You should always look and listen for twice as long as you speak. –
When you think about it, common sense isn’t all that common.
