As a minimal part of my job, I sometimes have to go to workshops that involve the industry that I’m in. And usually this ends up with me doodling or thinking of a place I’d rather be at the moment instead of listening to said presenter give his/her talk about a rather inane subject that only concerns me peripherally. So while Brianna was worrying about whether our baby was going to die from beetle parts last week, I was stuck listening to another 5 hours of drab.
But as I sat there trying not to drool over my notebook, I noticed a pattern that caught my attention. Every one of the speakers made a little joke about how they wouldn’t take much time with their presentation. And after a couple of presenters I realized, they all lied.
Honestly, I’m kind of used to sitting through long schpiels that have no significant meaning to my life. But if you’re up in front of a group and you tell us you won’t take long, don’t lie to us. It’s not nice. Don’t give us false hope that we will be able to get out on time. Because sometimes I get my hopes up that I’ll be able to flee on time, and then this stuff comes along:
“Now, I promised X that I wouldn’t take up much of your time, so hear me out….
BlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlahBlah”
For the love of all that is holy, just be quiet. Go sit down and let us move on so that we can get on with our lives-or at least what’s left of them. Please.
