Twice in the past two days I've made a critical mistake: I've asked a co-worker how they're doing lately. Their response? One woman launched into a 20 minute long story about how she dislocated two of her ribs, complete with gory details and a step-by-step recounting of how the therapy is going. The second man responded with a 30 minute story about how his 14 year old daughter cracked her head open while skateboarding and was now just getting out of ICU. She wasn't wearing a helmet (I had to bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that this is EXACTLY the sort of thing that happens when you don't enforce simple safety practices like wearing a seatbelt or always wearing protective gear like helmets).
Lessons learned:
- Don't ask broad questions unless you've got half an hour to spare
- Ask simple "yes/no" questions
- ALWAYS make sure your kids wear helmets when skateboarding
- It's better to be anti-social at work, since you won't have to listen to long stories like that if you don't want
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