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Sunday Dec. 9, 2018

One of my pet peeves is the ‘empty meaningless gesture’.

Don’t people see how silly it is, how ridiculous they look, how little their actions advance their cause – more succinctly, how they set themselves back in our eyes?

Everybody loves sincerity. Everybody hates fake sincerity. Everybody does. I wonder when ‘mass marketing corporations’ will get that message?

Do you see/read/hear these lines?  … Have a nice day, or … did you find what you were looking for?, or … your call is important to us.

I wonder, if employers want to insist on having their employees say those things, wouldn’t it be great if they could at least trust them to have some flexibility – some initiative and some originality in what words they utter?

I value people who are real, not robotic – and it strikes me that while these companies trust their employees to their jobs like robots but they don’t trust their judgment to think and act like real people.

I expect some will ‘get it’ and change – in the process distinguishing themselves. When they do, I’ll shop there. I’ll do business with people who are allowed to think, to speak and to deal with customers using their brain rather than a script.

Reader feedback:

SOBER THOUGHTS

I really liked you musings today – not that I do not like them every day. I thought you might appreciate this quote  - don’t take this as anything other than a quote that I received today and I thought it was fun.  "Change is not a four letter word... but often your reaction to it is." - -- Jeffrey Gitomer, RT, Vancouver, BC

Kudos, Mark! Your speaking out also brings hope to those who think  sobriety is an impossibility, PW, Calgary, AB

A good message worth repeating every year, AN, Calgary, AB

Happy re-Birthday, BB, Vancouver, BC


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