Blurb Overheard

There's a young woman in my office (for whom I must accept some responsibility since I hired her two years ago) who just made the following remark:

"See, you've just got to understand that I'm always thinking and sometimes my mind gets ahead of itself."

I had all I could do not to guffaw out loud. Honey, your brain is never ahead of itself. You had a good basic sense of what we do in this office which is unusual for someone as young as you are, and you had a lot of energy and enthusiasm which is why I hired you (even though my boss, to whom you just made this comment, really didn't want me to) but you haven't lived up to your promise.

You get flustered and you lack attention to detail. You talk too loudly and you have a heavier step than the 300 pound beast in the corner office. When the big boss asked if you had enough professional clothes to accompany him on a business trip, he was trying to tell you that what you think is hip and cool is not considered professional. We know that you have a hard time buying clothes because you are petite and overweight, so go for classic not contemporary.

I know it's hard when you are just starting out, but we really don't want to hear about how you are living paycheck to paycheck. If you would just slow down and listen every now and then, you just might hear what we are saying - as well as what we are trying to say with our silence and between the lines.