So the other day, I'm on the phone with a client who has called me no less than 20 times in the last month. Now, this isn't horrible, except I've given this client the numbers to technical support and service-yet ALL his calls are technical in nature. Anyway, he calls me again and starts his conversation by saying, "I know I'm being a big pain and a waste of your time with all my questions." To which I respond, "Oh, it's no problem."
Here's the mini-quagmire I find myself in now. What, exactly, did I respond to? Was I actually saying, "yes you are being a big pain and a waste of my time, but it's OK?" Or was I saying, "it's no problem, because you're not really a big pain or a waste of my time?"
When faced with similar situations, how do YOU respond? I realize it could just be me overanalyzing the situation, but it's a real question I have. Thought I'd drop that thought on you (pun intended)......
Posts
I think only you can honestly answer that question. But if you really want my opinion, I believe the former would be truer than the latter. If the last scenerio were the case than you would have responded "Oh, You're no problem". The "it's" in your remark, I believe, is a concession to the callers reasoning that he is a big pain. The "it's" is not making him the subject but rather this "idea" that he is something. Otherwise what would the "it's" be reffering to? The fact that you said "it" is "no problem" attributes a certain characterisic to it, therefore presupposing its existance. Ofcoures the "it's" could also be a refference to the "questions" in the callers statement. By you saying "it's no problem" you are negating his assumption that he and his questions are what he thinks they are. The only issue here would be that your "it's" would be in the singular unlike his plural "questions". This would change your response to "Oh, they're no problem". Whew!...and you thought you were overanalyzing it! :)
ReplyDeleteSo much of what we say in response is often a lie. I think we believe we are doing others a favor by not letting them know the real us, or perhaps we are too afraid or lazy to engage or be engaged in good discussion. There's the infamous "How are you?". To which we 99.99999% of the time respond "Fine." It's just too easy to not have to pour your heart out even if what you have to say is of a positive nature.
This respone of yours, though, is well crafted so as not to be a lie but still somehow be pleasing to the questioner....paradox?
-Jacob Harding