Page 13 - February 2021 Voices

this point, the voices in his head
were probably screaming “Stop
talking, Ron. Walk away, Ron”,

but he said “Congratulations.
How much more do you have to
lose?” It immediately reminded
me of a birthday card I saw that

said, “A gentleman should never
ask a lady her age.” Inside it said,
“So how much do you weigh?”
Ron was married, but I heard a

few years later that he was divorced. I wonder made a very bad decision that day. He still didn’t
why? The lesson here is all about personal get it when he went to work on Monday and told
boundaries and knowing what topics should be his co-workers that his girlfriend was furious at
avoided. him for not going to the hospital with her. When

My final example is a combination of the they started laughing and calling him an idiot, he
two previous examples, because it includes said, “But, she said I could stay and keep skiing.”
paying attention to body language and tone, Read between the lines, George!
plus a complete lack of understanding of human These three examples illustrate how

relationships. I was calling on a major customer communications can sometimes go off the rails
and took a group of engineers to lunch. They and the message gets lost. In the first case, I was
were mercilessly teasing a young man named able to connect with my nephew because I was
George about an incident the previous weekend paying attention to his body language and facial

on a ski trip with their girlfriends. George’s expressions, all part of reading between the lines.
girlfriend had an accident and broke her leg. The I have long since lost track of Ron and George,
conditions were perfect for skiing that day, and but I hope for their sake that they have learned
George was having the time of his life. As the how to be more effective communicators.

EMTs were loading her into the ambulance, he
asked, “Do you want me to come to the hospital
with you?” In a soft voice she replied, “Well, if
you want to.” You can probably guess that George

VOICES! | FEBRUARY 2021 13