Merry Christmas.
Please donate money to the homeless.
I pointed out this sign to my wife, who was riding with me, and told her that signs like that were the reason that I started this blog!
But first, some background:
Having lived in Boulder, Colorado for many years, I've seen my fair share of panhandlers. Spare changing is raised almost to the level of an art form on the Downtown Boulder Mall on Pearl St. (actually, for some people it is an art form, but they are called Buskers, and this post is not about them). I've seen all kinds of solicitors there, from people who make a career of panhandling and stand on the same corner year after year, to the seasonal activists who take the mall by storm with their clipboards and matching t-shirts, to the unbathed transient who once offered to stand on the sidewalk brick of my choice (any brick!) for the low price of one dollar.
The panhandlers in Boulder often confused me. In fact, I spent a lot of time wondering what actually smells worse, hippie body odor, or the patchouli that they use to cover it up? Yet, the panhandler I saw downtown this week confused me even more. I've seen many people panhandling in this spot, and their choice of location always perplexed me. To put it simply: why the heck would you choose to panhandle next to a highway off-ramp? Do these people actually expect someone to stop, roll down there window, and give them some spare change?
Maybe I lack some perspective, but panhandling on the side of road where cars often travel at high speeds does not seem like a lucrative way to spend your time. This also makes me wonder why you don’t see more panhandlers hanging around the coin baskets at toll booths, but that is not really important. What is important is the strange sign that the homeless person was holding.I thought this sign was pretty funny, although I realize that homelessness is not something to laugh at. It was funny because I feel like it belonged in a Marketing 101 class. Big brands like Nike don’t take out ads that say, “Buy Running Shoes Today!” They place ads that say (and I’m paraphrasing), “Buy NIKE Running Shoes Today!” By that logic, the homeless man should not have written “Please Donate Money to the Homeless” on his sign.
He should have written “Please Donate Money to ME” instead!
If I followed this poor unfortunate soul’s advice, I might have gone down to the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter and plopped down a fat donation, all because of his call to action. The problem with this situation, and the reason for my resulting laughter, is that the homeless man had the right idea, but his message wasn’t specific enough.
This is actually a pretty common gripe for me, especially when I’m completing a task for someone else. Many times, I’ve gotten into arguments with people because what I did was not what they thought they asked me to. The end result is that I have found myself getting into the habit of asking people for clarification all the time. I’ve actually had managers call me out for being too anal when it comes to following processes. While I would probably argue that point, I do have to admit that I have a fondness for procedure. This isn’t because I have a penchant for bureaucracy, but rather because I usually prefer to have too much information and direction than too little.
The problem with this perspective, is that volume is not always an indicator of specificity when it comes to communication. Or, to put it more simply, quantity does not guarantee quality. Anyone who has tried to collaborate with a person who “thinks out loud” has probably experienced the hair-pulling frustration that results from someone who talks forever, yet says nothing. Since my job usually involves spending many hours sitting in meetings with people who are in love with the sound of their own voice, I’ve learned the hard way that a verbose message is not always a guarantee of a clear message.
This conundrum reminds me of a very important lesson that I learned when I was working down in Florida. When you work at Walt Disney World, people always ask you questions that appear stupid. I learned to grow a thick skin when people would walk up to me and ask “Do you work here?” As if the yellow striped shirt, yellow pants, and Mickey Mouse name tag that I was wearing was some sort of clever disguise! Yet, I resisted the urge to shout “Of course I work here, you idiot! Who the heck dresses like this except people who work here?” and accepted the fact that oftentimes, people are smarter than the questions that they ask.
A corollary to that notion is that people are probably smarter than the things that they say, but I have a really hard time taking the idea that far, after all, isn’t the ability to express yourself part of your intelligence? Granted, some people use media other than words to express themselves. There are plenty of musical, mathematical, and artistic geniuses out there who aren’t good with words. Therefore, I’m willing to make a compromise to my earlier statement. How’s this for a theory: Really smart people may be smarter than the things they say, but idiots will usually make their stupidity known with their words!
It’s not the kindest thing I’ve ever come up with, but I think it works for me. If I correct you for not saying something properly, you may even consider being grateful. After all, the point of sending a message, whether verbal or written, is to communicate a thought or idea. If I’ve interpreted the wrong thought or idea from your message, we have both successfully colluded to waste each other’s time. So consider my criticism a gift. A gift of time, that is. Hopefully, the pain you feel from my arrogance is less than the mutual pain that often results from your miscommunication. Or, as Robert J. McCloskey, the former U.S. State Department spokesman is often credited with saying:
“I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
Have a good weekend everyone, and I CLEARLY hope you come back Monday for another BG post!
-Lee
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