I was reminded today by an ignoramus of a saying I'd heard many years ago when an old timer put me in my place. He stopped my chattering and said, 'Let me ask you something. Have you ever stopped to wonder why it is that you have two ears and two eyes but only one mouth?' I really didn't know what to say to that. To busy thinking what I was going to say next to really listen I guess. 'Well, do you suppose it might mean that you should look and listen, twice as much as you talk?'
Old man opened my eyes and my ears that day.
What all sayings have you heard that stuck with you.
it would be trouble to post it here, but it is a toast to being over forty.
"A man has to have something in which he believes. I believe I'll have another drink."
- W.C. Fields
But seriously..I'm sure I was admonished with wise words from my mentors and elders. I'm also sure I've forgotten most of them. That gives credence to the fact they were probably correct in their original assessment of me. 😉
One observation from a former employer:
"You're slow as an Okie funeral with only one set of jumper cables!" - I still remember that one...and it's still funny.
From my Dad, born on a cotton farm in the Texas Panhandle in 1930. Dust Bowl days, depression, youngest of 10 kids:
"We were so poor when I was a little boy that if I wasn't a little boy, I would have had anything to play with."
My Dad said " I'd rather they talk about me than somebody who cares" Wisest man I ever knew....
If it was easy no one would pay us to do it for them.
Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
Wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one gets full faster.
Did a job for a bloke once who in the general conversation that goes with any survey and personalities, agencies etc, said
"human beings must be the only species we never see in a zoo "
He was referring to how an odd bunch we are or can be.
That has stuck with me for past 20 odd years.
Today I was talking to another client about a certain person he just labled "The Savage Lady".
Comment was "she'd never be happy, not even on Christmas dayc
Only one I remember was from my Father: "JESUS CHRIST NOW WHAT DID YOU DO!!!!????"
"Sometimes the pig just walks himself to the slaughterhouse because he knows that is what is best for the farm"
My unspoken/unwritten response to some of the blather hereon (and elsewhere):
Roll up your trousers - it's too late to save the shoes!
Never time to do it right, always time to do it twice.
Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over.
First survey boss:
"If you are making mistakes then I know you are doing something."
Didn't realizes the time that he paraphrased a John Wooden saying
"If you are not making mistakes then you are not doing anything, I'm positive that doers make mistakes."
It made me feel at ease and instilled some confidence and trust.
FL/GA PLS., post: 413951, member: 379 wrote: Only one I remember was from my Father: "JESUS CHRIST NOW WHAT DID YOU DO!!!!????"
Standard response: "Oh you can just call me Tom"
If it ain't broke, don't break it.
Robert Hill, post: 413958, member: 378 wrote: First survey boss:
"If you are making mistakes then I know you are doing something."Didn't realizes the time that he paraphrased a John Wooden saying
"If you are not making mistakes then you are not doing anything, I'm positive that doers make mistakes."It made me feel at ease and instilled some confidence and trust.
One of my first bosses said something very similar, "If you don't make a mistake now and then you ain't doing enough".
"If you want something done right, do it yourself."
From an old mentor of mine who expected you to pay attention: "See one, Do one, Teach one..."
