Sometimes, you just need to ask the right question.
Several years ago, I was presiding over a hearing in a courtroom, when I apparently asked the witness the wrong question.
After getting his name, age and address, I queried: “Marital status?”
He just gave me a blank look. Then he said, “Ma’am?”
He just gave me a blank look. Then he said, “Ma’am?”
So, to further explain my question, I asked, “Married? Separated? Divorced?” I was just trying to let him know what “marital status” meant.
After thinking just a minute, the man replied, “I guess we’re separated. She’s dead.”
Well, yes, that would indeed be a separation. The man must have thought he had to choose one of the three options I had given him, and I failed to name every single possibility in the world.
Yep, sometimes getting the right answer means asking the right question.
10 comments:
That's very true. You always have to ask the right answer. Then there are folks that have the bulb, but it's burned out. Just saying. :)
Have a terrific day. :)
Willy has that trouble with Juanita down at the Possum Grit Diner. Willy says "how you doing" and Juanita thinks Willy really cares and spends the next hour telling Willy her troubles.
Willy needs to learn to just say "Hi"
10-4 Willy
So funny and so true.
Although I only discovered your blog a few days ago, when I was asked to pass on the Kreativ blogger award, you were among the first to come to mind. Congratulations.
http://cheekfam.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/kreativ-blogger-award/
Have a great day and weekend. :)
Perhaps dying is a form of divorce in some places.
Perhaps dying is a form of divorce in some places.
It's definitely not a trial separation.
I hope he wasn't on trial for murder.
And no, ya got it wrong, Humorsmith--staying married to a jerk is a form of dying.
This reminds me ... I learned early on as a teacher that my students were often answering a different question than I posed and that listening carefully helped ME reshape the conversation purposefully. They taught me at least as much as I taught them ... seriously!
Hugs and blessings,
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