nesea wrote: What a trip that must of been. I've felt the intensity of the energy from the audience side of it and can't imagine how awesome it is being the "one" receiving it onstage.
very cool
Well, it's a lot like the little girl with the curl "right in the middle of her forehead." When it's good, it's "very very good" and when it's bad...
It REALLY SUCKS!
dont you miss the creative aspects tho? i seriously miss hanging out in those places with my ex. there was such a contagious creativity to it.
nesea wrote: What a trip that must of been. I've felt the intensity of the energy from the audience side of it and can't imagine how awesome it is being the "one" receiving it onstage.
very cool
Well, it's a lot like the little girl with the curl "right in the middle of her forehead." When it's good, it's "very very good" and when it's bad...
no kidding . ... do you still perform? lol .. cause I have a few ideas ... Jk .. but how often have you heard that?
seriously though .... it's really pretty cool that you actually did that and I'm a bit jealous. I bet you have some great stories .........
Hated it.
I didn't "tour" or anything like that as a comedienne -- never "intended" to BE one, really. I was hired for a job (and yeah, I auditioned, so I'm not "blaming" anyone, or anything. Turned out to be the worst audition of my life. I even "went up" and completely forgot where I was, or what I was to say next. That had only happened to me once before in my life. I'd just finished WRITING the dang thing the night before, had slept not a WINK, and had mistakenly swallowed a very small amount of AMMONIA just before heading out the door, which I could still taste, and there I was, with no script, in a thousand seat house with two seats filled, and no laughter to perpetuate the performance, and :::poof::: "Where am I? WHO am I?" It was so bad I had to do something I'd NEVER EVER done before. I actually stopped, and started over. <shudder> I was sure I'd be banished from the venue completely after that, forget getting the gig.) I'd already worked for a long time in the venue, doing tech work, and sort of lusting after the job, so when the position opened up, after watching ... sheesh, I'd say at least five, maybe six men do it, I decided to give it a shot. It also, coincidentally, meant I'd be at the venue the same amount of time every night, but just add a zero right in front of that decimal point of my nightly pay, which was pretty appealing, too. Then, after GETTING the job, had to quickly learn how to "do" it. I had two weeks, upon hearing I'd gotten the gig, to write and memorize my material for a very specfic crowd, and oh yeah, teach myself stand up. Discovered pretty quickly that I'm not the kind of person to just stand in front of a mic and tell jokes. COULD, and DID, with some success, even, but ... just wasn't my gig. Plus, my audience was generally speaking, pretty conservative, so my "natural" inclinations were anachronistic at best. So? "Blossom where you're planted." I changed the gig. :) Methodically turned it from comedienne to comic, created characters, and sort of told jokes "through" them, as well as adding shtick, so the stand up routines gradually became sketches. That, as an actor, was a lot easier for me. Even so, it was a real baptism by fire, and my classroom was 7-9 shows a week in a thousand seat venue. Comedy is like laser surgery. Requires INCREDIBLE precision. Every night after the show, I'd review what didn't get the kind of laugh I'd anticipated, dissect it, and try to figure out WHY it didn't, and then make changes and try THEM the next night. Simple things, like which word comes first in a sentence, or .... I remember learning, for instance, that "July" is a more "funny" word than "June." (If you're using a mid-western dialect, at least.) When I said "June" I got a (I suspect polite) chuckle. When I changed it to "July," I got an honest laugh. Who knew?? Also, there are things specific to that kind of comedy which are a departure from regular stage acting, like ... Okay, as an actor, I already knew that you don't move on an important line, but had to learn that when you deliver a punch line, you (exceptions noted) have to make sure the audience can see BOTH your eyes. I'd no previous experience with that, having always had before, the invisible wall between me and the audience.
Then, we got a new show director, and I wrote two "regular" shows, which, at least the first season they were in performance, actually had a story line. Each season, though, the story line got horribly diminished, to the point that in one of the shows, only the first act ended up having any continuity. In addition to these two shows, we still had one (two performances a week) which was still in the old format. I was working with some INCREDIBLY gifted musicians who had little to no experience acting. I adored them all. :) We were a tight family, and I couldn't WAIT to get to work every single day. Sure, by the middle of the 9th performance that week, when my legs felt as if they each had 50lb weights strapped to them, and I knew I had to go out and "dance" (there really should be another word for what I do, and any true dancer would quickly tell you that) and run around like a maniac, I might have wished for just a little time to rest the body, but that was it. You can "will" your body to do a lot of things, but there does come a time, when the kicks and leaps only go so high, and no higher.
Stories? Yeah, probably.
A quick one: I got the flu one season, and had no understudy. It was our busiest time of the whole year. My role was ... essentially the continuity character ... the one who made the story line move from one song to the next. "The show must go on." There were literally people in the wings to catch me when I made my exits from the stage and collapsed. Oy, that was hard. And frustrating, too, since of course my timing was ALL messed up, and I knew it. That's one of those times you hope for decent muscle memory; hope it kicks in, with not only your movement, but also your speech.
Prior to that, when I was still doing the stand up thing ... one night, unbeknownst to ANY of us on stage, the first four rows of the house or audience were filled with seniors bussed in from a home, and a majority of them, Alzheimers patients. About ... the third second on stage that night, I knew SOMETHING was radically different. Performance, performance like that, is ... a relationship. It's a relationship between the performer and the audience. The invisible "fourth wall" is completely knocked down, and there is a definite back-and-forth exchange which is what "makes" the performance. Innuendo is oftentimes lost on advanced Alzheimer's patients. Also, I quickly discovered that laughter (as well as other utterances) can pretty much come ... just any old time, although not really where one might most hope it would, from alzheimers patients. My "timing" was shell shocked by the end of the first three minutes. That was one reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long night for me. If they'd just TOLD us, you know?
With the exception of those two incidents, I have to confess, I ALWAYS left that venue at night, almost delerious with joy. It's an "energy" thing, and to bring a thousand people around to smile, and laugh with you, and "will" you to succeed ... just ain't nothin' like it. I was heartbroken, when the venue was sold, and the show(s) closed. Still feel pangs during the holidays, even though it's been quite a few years, now. Every once in a while, I'll bump into someone at some odd place, like the auto mechanics, or something, who saw the show, and they'll loooooooooook at me, and try to place me, and then, maybe ten minutes later, they'll shout out one of my character's names, and we'll both laugh. That's a sort of cool thing, although there's a part of me that really hates for anyone to recognize that character in a ... less than pristine circumstance. I guess I'm pretty protective of those characters, come to think of it. They may have been not the brightest bulb on the tree, or the most modest folks, but they all were endowed with love. I know that sounds sappy on the surface, but it was a conscious choice I made for each of them, and did my best to sustain every performance. Their flaws were never flaws of the heart; sometimes you had to like them almost in spite of themselves, but hopefully, when all was said and done, you still liked them as people.
LOL.
It's good to remember the "good times" yes? That was surely one of them for me.
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Friday 1st of May 2009 09:02:13 AM
Holy hell ... I wouldn't be surprised one bit if you could STILL taste that ammonia to this day! How in the world did you end up ingesting ammonia?? Or should I just leave it alone?
Hearing the progression of your settling into your act is interesting too ... for me it helps explain how a Lily Tomlin happens to find her characters as opposed to say an Ellen that can just stand up there and deliver it. Both are amazingly creative, but the methods are different.
What a trip that must of been. I've felt the intensity of the energy from the audience side of it and can't imagine how awesome it is being the "one" receiving it onstage.
very cool
__________________
"Bicycles are trust and balance, and that's what love is." -- Nikki Giovanni
With the exception of those two incidents, I have to confess, I ALWAYS left that venue at night, almost delerious with joy
that in itself is reason to do this!
. It's an "energy" thing, and to bring a thousand people around to smile, and laugh with you, and "will" you to succeed ... just ain't nothin' like it. I was heartbroken, when the venue was sold, and the show(s) closed. Still feel pangs during the holidays, even though it's been quite a few years, now. Every once in a while, I'll bump into someone at some odd place, like the auto mechanics, or something, who saw the show, and they'll loooooooooook at me, and try to place me, and then, maybe ten minutes later, they'll shout out one of my character's names, and we'll both laugh. That's a sort of cool thing, although there's a part of me that really hates for anyone to recognize that character in a ... less than pristine circumstance. I guess I'm pretty protective of those characters, come to think of it. They may have been not the brightest bulb on the tree, or the most modest folks, but they all were endowed with love. I know that sounds sappy on the surface, but it was a conscious choice I made for each of them, and did my best to sustain every performance. Their flaws were never flaws of the heart; sometimes you had to like them almost in spite of themselves, but hopefully, when all was said and done, you still liked them as people.
LOL.
It's good to remember the "good times" yes? That was surely one of them for me.
i really admire, no envy really, those who can get out there and do this. loved the post. im living vicariously thru it:)
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Friday 1st of May 2009 09:02:13 AM
no kidding . ... do you still perform? lol .. cause I have a few ideas ... Jk .. but how often have you heard that?
seriously though .... it's really pretty cool that you actually did that and I'm a bit jealous. I bet you have some great stories .........
Hated it.
I didn't "tour" or anything like that as a comedienne -- never "intended" to BE one, really. I was hired for a job (and yeah, I auditioned, so I'm not "blaming" anyone, or anything. Turned out to be the worst audition of my life. I even "went up" and completely forgot where I was, or what I was to say next. That had only happened to me once before in my life. I'd just finished WRITING the dang thing the night before, had slept not a WINK, and had mistakenly swallowed a very small amount of AMMONIA just before heading out the door, which I could still taste, and there I was, with no script, in a thousand seat house with two seats filled, and no laughter to perpetuate the performance, and :::poof::: "Where am I? WHO am I?" It was so bad I had to do something I'd NEVER EVER done before. I actually stopped, and started over. <shudder> I was sure I'd be banished from the venue completely after that, forget getting the gig.) I'd already worked for a long time in the venue, doing tech work, and sort of lusting after the job, so when the position opened up, after watching ... sheesh, I'd say at least five, maybe six men do it, I decided to give it a shot. It also, coincidentally, meant I'd be at the venue the same amount of time every night, but just add a zero right in front of that decimal point of my nightly pay, which was pretty appealing, too. Then, after GETTING the job, had to quickly learn how to "do" it. I had two weeks, upon hearing I'd gotten the gig, to write and memorize my material for a very specfic crowd, and oh yeah, teach myself stand up. Discovered pretty quickly that I'm not the kind of person to just stand in front of a mic and tell jokes. COULD, and DID, with some success, even, but ... just wasn't my gig. Plus, my audience was generally speaking, pretty conservative, so my "natural" inclinations were anachronistic at best. So? "Blossom where you're planted." I changed the gig. :) Methodically turned it from comedienne to comic, created characters, and sort of told jokes "through" them, as well as adding shtick, so the stand up routines gradually became sketches. That, as an actor, was a lot easier for me. Even so, it was a real baptism by fire, and my classroom was 7-9 shows a week in a thousand seat venue. Comedy is like laser surgery. Requires INCREDIBLE precision. Every night after the show, I'd review what didn't get the kind of laugh I'd anticipated, dissect it, and try to figure out WHY it didn't, and then make changes and try THEM the next night. Simple things, like which word comes first in a sentence, or .... I remember learning, for instance, that "July" is a more "funny" word than "June." (If you're using a mid-western dialect, at least.) When I said "June" I got a (I suspect polite) chuckle. When I changed it to "July," I got an honest laugh. Who knew?? Also, there are things specific to that kind of comedy which are a departure from regular stage acting, like ... Okay, as an actor, I already knew that you don't move on an important line, but had to learn that when you deliver a punch line, you (exceptions noted) have to make sure the audience can see BOTH your eyes. I'd no previous experience with that, having always had before, the invisible wall between me and the audience.
Then, we got a new show director, and I wrote two "regular" shows, which, at least the first season they were in performance, actually had a story line. Each season, though, the story line got horribly diminished, to the point that in one of the shows, only the first act ended up having any continuity. In addition to these two shows, we still had one (two performances a week) which was still in the old format. I was working with some INCREDIBLY gifted musicians who had little to no experience acting. I adored them all. :) We were a tight family, and I couldn't WAIT to get to work every single day. Sure, by the middle of the 9th performance that week, when my legs felt as if they each had 50lb weights strapped to them, and I knew I had to go out and "dance" (there really should be another word for what I do, and any true dancer would quickly tell you that) and run around like a maniac, I might have wished for just a little time to rest the body, but that was it. You can "will" your body to do a lot of things, but there does come a time, when the kicks and leaps only go so high, and no higher.
Stories? Yeah, probably.
A quick one: I got the flu one season, and had no understudy. It was our busiest time of the whole year. My role was ... essentially the continuity character ... the one who made the story line move from one song to the next. "The show must go on." There were literally people in the wings to catch me when I made my exits from the stage and collapsed. Oy, that was hard. And frustrating, too, since of course my timing was ALL messed up, and I knew it. That's one of those times you hope for decent muscle memory; hope it kicks in, with not only your movement, but also your speech.
Prior to that, when I was still doing the stand up thing ... one night, unbeknownst to ANY of us on stage, the first four rows of the house or audience were filled with seniors bussed in from a home, and a majority of them, Alzheimers patients. About ... the third second on stage that night, I knew SOMETHING was radically different. Performance, performance like that, is ... a relationship. It's a relationship between the performer and the audience. The invisible "fourth wall" is completely knocked down, and there is a definite back-and-forth exchange which is what "makes" the performance. Innuendo is oftentimes lost on advanced Alzheimer's patients. Also, I quickly discovered that laughter (as well as other utterances) can pretty much come ... just any old time, although not really where one might most hope it would, from alzheimers patients. My "timing" was shell shocked by the end of the first three minutes. That was one reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long night for me. If they'd just TOLD us, you know?
With the exception of those two incidents, I have to confess, I ALWAYS left that venue at night, almost delerious with joy. It's an "energy" thing, and to bring a thousand people around to smile, and laugh with you, and "will" you to succeed ... just ain't nothin' like it. I was heartbroken, when the venue was sold, and the show(s) closed. Still feel pangs during the holidays, even though it's been quite a few years, now. Every once in a while, I'll bump into someone at some odd place, like the auto mechanics, or something, who saw the show, and they'll loooooooooook at me, and try to place me, and then, maybe ten minutes later, they'll shout out one of my character's names, and we'll both laugh. That's a sort of cool thing, although there's a part of me that really hates for anyone to recognize that character in a ... less than pristine circumstance. I guess I'm pretty protective of those characters, come to think of it. They may have been not the brightest bulb on the tree, or the most modest folks, but they all were endowed with love. I know that sounds sappy on the surface, but it was a conscious choice I made for each of them, and did my best to sustain every performance. Their flaws were never flaws of the heart; sometimes you had to like them almost in spite of themselves, but hopefully, when all was said and done, you still liked them as people.
LOL.
It's good to remember the "good times" yes? That was surely one of them for me.
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Friday 1st of May 2009 09:02:13 AM
LOL. I've periodically dreamed of working at an ad agency. Years ago a did a litle work for Siegrfreid & Roy when someone who worked for the ad agency handling them farmed the stuff out to me, which was a sort of thrill, even though it was mostly just writing descriptive blurbs and cut lines for photos that went with press releases and some brochure work, I think. Then too, I dabbled a bit in journalism when I was much younger. Anyway, I've often wished I was in that profession, but the stress could be devastating. That "being creative all the time in a timely manner" thing. I confess, I'm in awe of the writers who put together weekly scripts for television dramas. I mean one or two maybe, ok, but producing a teleplay EVERY WEEK??
The hardest job I've ever had was as a comic/comedienne performing my own material. You don't EVER get to "clock out" -- your mind is always observing, taking notes, and asking how, if tweaked only slightly, "that" could be funny. I imagine it's much the same with people who work in ad agencies. Sure, it's typically a team effort, but even so, sometimes, you're looking at a deadline, and the well has just run dry, and what do you do THEN?
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Thursday 30th of April 2009 05:57:21 AM
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Thursday 30th of April 2009 05:58:22 AM
no kidding . ... do you still perform? lol .. cause I have a few ideas ... Jk .. but how often have you heard that?
seriously though .... it's really pretty cool that you actually did that and I'm a bit jealous. I bet you have some great stories .........
__________________
"Bicycles are trust and balance, and that's what love is." -- Nikki Giovanni
"...Pursuant to our previous conversation of last week, I will forward to you via electronic mail message, for your edification and review, a draft of the financial statements for the month ended last month, March 2009. Kindly review and analyzethe reports at your earliest convenience and contact me with any questions or observations. I will await notification from you as to any necessary and appropriate adjusting journal entries before submitting for final approval from the board..."
or
"Please check your email for a draft of the March financials. If any adjustments are needed, would you send them in time for next week's board meeting?"
I'd probably be well advised to get rid of my call waiting. Only on the rarest of occasions do I leave the call I'm on to take the incoming -- like when I'm waiting to hear back from someone about something important, or when I'm at the point where I cannot endure listening to the end of the dialogue concerning every activity done and every morsel of food eaten and the carb count of each of those morsels, from my Mom. Given that she usually eats pretty much the same thing every day, I think I've pretty much gotten it down by now, and the reading of the report is something from which I treasure escape.
now thats a good point. i hadnt thought of that. im thinking of situations where thats a polite way of getting off of the first call. i have a couple of friends who literally can talk for hours. i dont have hours for phone calls.
Most of the time, though, I'll just say (if someone asks, as I quite often do "Is that your other line? I can hold" ) : "Eh? They can leave a message, and I'll get back to them."
can you see who is calling with call waiting? its been so long since i had a land line i cant remember how they worked?
It's funny how phone rules have changed over the years. I DISTINCTLY remember being taught by my teacher in 4th grade that when calling someone you should allow the phone to ring eight times: no more, no less. Eight times.
yep i remember this too. i think this was because usually there was one phone in a home and people often were in other rooms, fast forward to homes with many phones or cell phones and thats prolly not as necessary. my cell phones go to voice after the 3rd ring and when i am home i usually leave them in my bag in my room and by the time i go from one end of the house to the other the voice mail has already kicked in. id change the setting but more often then not it rings when i am at work and i want it to go to vm quickly.
and some people got into the habit of calling any and every time they felt like it, and still do. I don't turn the ringers off now, but I have a dial up connection which I keep up most of the day, whether I'm here or not, and sign off to check for messages when it is convenient for ME.
do you have that feature that flashes the number calling on your screen? back when i had a dial up a phone call would knock me offline. used to be very annoying especially when i had spent a long time on some email and ooops there it goes into the netherworld.
There's just something presumptive about a person thinking they have a "right" to barge into my home (via the phone) and demand my immediate attention.
yep. isnt that an odd thing?
Some people get downright ill tempered about it, and will leave messages regarding my "screening my calls" which of course I've not done for years or years, since I've had voice mail through my phone company. My brother used to leave lengthy sarcastic and mean spirited messages about my "screening his call" and no matter how many times I explained to him that I didn't do that, he always took it personally when he called my house and was directed to voice mail on the first ring. My mother now always begins her messages to me thus: ":::sigh::: Well, I guess you're on the computer again..." although she broke away from that last week, and simply said: "Answer the damn phone!" and hung up. The "emergency" there, which couldn't wait until I checked my VM 15 minutes later was that Frys was having a half off sale on dairy, because the new guy overordered, and she wanted to know if I wanted her to buy some for me. I don't "get" the people who think a phone is a power thing, which can command someone to immediately listen to you.
i think there are people who view the world from the inside out and others who view the world from the outside in. those who fall into the former seem to think that every act done by other people somehow references back to them or was done with them in mind. ive always thought that it would be very shocking for these folks to confront the probable reality that they werent even in the other persons thought process.
I've a couple of people in my life who feel that way. I've literally had 25 minute phone "conversations" with my Mom in which my ONLY contribution was "Hello?" and "Okay, bye." She doesn't even require the occasional "unh hunh" that most of the other people with that same approach typically do. Quite often she forgets if she's talking to me or the voice mail, and will say as much, but that's about the only input required from me. My favorite voice mails from her are the ones which begin: "Now, I KNOW you're not going to listen to me, BUT..."
I have that happen to me all the time. Sometimes, they are even sitting in my office taking a call on their cell phone. I sit across the desk from them looking at them thinking, "you know I'm charging you $75 an hour to make dinner plans, right?" My cell phone charger sits on my desk, and if it rings when I have a client in the office or on the phone, there is a handy little "ignore" button on the phone that I'm not afraid to use. I would never take a call when speaking to a client, and I'm regularly amazed when they take calls while speaking to me.
yep the dinner plans thing is one of the most common things i hear along with a whole lot of other chatter that really could wait. its almost as tho people cannot resist the ringing of a phone. the feel that they must answer it and right now. it wasnt that long ago that people didnt have answering machines, or caller id and survived nicely. and before cell phones they managed to survive till the end of the day when they got home and played back their messages. and yet now? the irresitable impulse apparently. ive tried to keep the middle ground, letting voice mail pick up the calls when im busy, which is 99 percent of the time and then periodically playing them to screen for those rare calls that do require a quick return and returning the rest when i have spare time or preferably shooting an email response instead. email takes 5 min phone calls can go on for an hour. but i cannot imagine interrupting someone at my work or when im seeking out someone at their work to take a call about where to meet for freaking dinner.
I have the same one minute rule, or whenever my patience runs out, whichever comes first (usually the patience runs out after about 20 seconds.) I also do not give permission to take the call. I wonder how many others do this.
hard to say. the way the question is phrased its hard to refuse politely which is why i go with the stony silence first. its one of those things that forces you to be equally impolite and thats never pleasant.
LOL...this last gripe is my favorite! One client comes to mind. She's the controller for a large non-profit group, and she regularly uses redundant phrases with big 50-cent words trying to sound very professional. It always makes me giggle. Just talk to me like a human, wouldja? And, you're right, it DOES take an hour to get the thought out. While you're wading through the big meaningless words, you could have summarized the question or thought in under 2 sentences.
yanno? and like owl i had those phone lessons growing up and not interrupting was one of those and yet i swear one of these days my sleep deprived self is going to nod off and start snoring waiting for someone to get to the point.
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo.
OH, one of my big gripes in general and, does not have to be a professional situation. It all started when call waiting was invented. lol Domestically it only took one time for someone to call me and then put me on wait while they went to see who was on the other call. I mean how friggin rude. I did not call you and, now you expect me to sit on wait? Nope. I hang up. I have a client that does it a lot and, I take it but, only wait so long before I hang up. Anyone else that does not butter my bread gets no explanation. Just a click on my end. I hate call waiting. Rude Rude Rude. Gator.
I'd probably be well advised to get rid of my call waiting. Only on the rarest of occasions do I leave the call I'm on to take the incoming -- like when I'm waiting to hear back from someone about something important, or when I'm at the point where I cannot endure listening to the end of the dialogue concerning every activity done and every morsel of food eaten and the carb count of each of those morsels, from my Mom. Given that she usually eats pretty much the same thing every day, I think I've pretty much gotten it down by now, and the reading of the report is something from which I treasure escape.
Most of the time, though, I'll just say (if someone asks, as I quite often do "Is that your other line? I can hold" ) : "Eh? They can leave a message, and I'll get back to them."
It's funny how phone rules have changed over the years. I DISTINCTLY remember being taught by my teacher in 4th grade that when calling someone you should allow the phone to ring eight times: no more, no less. Eight times. I can't say for sure I now do that, unless I'm calling someone I know to take a long time to get to the phone. A lot of it is about knowing the other person's situation, I guess. Proximity to the phone, and all that. I also don't call people (as opposed to business) before 10AM or after 10PM unless, again, it's been set up to do that. There was a time when I would turn the ringers off on my phone (I worked nights, and was a day sleeper) and some people got into the habit of calling any and every time they felt like it, and still do. I don't turn the ringers off now, but I have a dial up connection which I keep up most of the day, whether I'm here or not, and sign off to check for messages when it is convenient for ME. There's just something presumptive about a person thinking they have a "right" to barge into my home (via the phone) and demand my immediate attention. Some people get downright ill tempered about it, and will leave messages regarding my "screening my calls" which of course I've not done for years or years, since I've had voice mail through my phone company. My brother used to leave lengthy sarcastic and mean spirited messages about my "screening his call" and no matter how many times I explained to him that I didn't do that, he always took it personally when he called my house and was directed to voice mail on the first ring. My mother now always begins her messages to me thus: ":::sigh::: Well, I guess you're on the computer again..." although she broke away from that last week, and simply said: "Answer the damn phone!" and hung up. The "emergency" there, which couldn't wait until I checked my VM 15 minutes later was that Frys was having a half off sale on dairy, because the new guy overordered, and she wanted to know if I wanted her to buy some for me. I don't "get" the people who think a phone is a power thing, which can command someone to immediately listen to you. I've a couple of people in my life who feel that way. I've literally had 25 minute phone "conversations" with my Mom in which my ONLY contribution was "Hello?" and "Okay, bye." She doesn't even require the occasional "unh hunh" that most of the other people with that same approach typically do. Quite often she forgets if she's talking to me or the voice mail, and will say as much, but that's about the only input required from me. My favorite voice mails from her are the ones which begin: "Now, I KNOW you're not going to listen to me, BUT..."
this is hell week for me at work. lots of stuff to finish up before the summer break and this year theres a bit of a twist. the summer program isnt going to happen because of deficits so most of this week ive been fielding calls from the parents of adult people wondering what they might do this summer as an alternative.
aside from grousing about the lack of appropriate boundaries between parents and the privacy of adult children there is another really anoying parental habit and its prolly not something that is limited to these parental units but thats who im on the phone with most of the time so heres my gripe. and its a two part gripe.
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo. and of course they say oh im just going to get that ill be right back and then they wait for me to say ok which i never do, choosing instead the pregnant pause so that they might reflect a moment on their rudeness and yet they wait and finally say is that ok? usually my answer then is a stony, if the call is that important go ahead ill wait a minute but then i can hear them talking and its never important. ive yet to hear a life and death conversation going on. i also have a one minute rule, if they aint back in one min i hang up and when they call back they express their annoyance. the other thing that i really cant abide is people who come on spouting information so fast that you cant take it in. people are in such a rush these days its teeth gritting listening to them. i had to ask one dad today to slow down 4 times god his anxiety level was palpable. oh and while im at it ive thought of a third. its that biz speak thing. i swear there must be a dictionary of plastic speak out there. guy calls wanting info on the closed summer program and says id like to work the issues with you. what the hell does that mean? work the issues? he went on to use several more of these weird phrases that i suppose come from some board room rather than from his heart. all i could think of when listening to him was no wonder the business world is in collapse if it takes an hour for these people to get a simple thought out. ok ive vented i feel better lol <Psych
---------------- Glad you feel better. :) Vent here anytime, as far as I'm concerned. (Lord knows I do! LOL)
I do as you do with people asking if they can put me on hold, but in reading your post, I've rethought that, and have decided that henceforth, if that occurs, I'm going to try to say: "Go ahead -- call me back when you're finished" and then end the conversation and hang up. That's if they've called me. If I've called them it would be different.
a chevy commerical came on last night and they want to "reinvent the ownership experience".
Uh ... ok ...
wonder how much that one cost 'em? <Nesea -----
LOL. I've periodically dreamed of working at an ad agency. Years ago a did a litle work for Siegrfreid & Roy when someone who worked for the ad agency handling them farmed the stuff out to me, which was a sort of thrill, even though it was mostly just writing descriptive blurbs and cut lines for photos that went with press releases and some brochure work, I think. Then too, I dabbled a bit in journalism when I was much younger. Anyway, I've often wished I was in that profession, but the stress could be devastating. That "being creative all the time in a timely manner" thing. I confess, I'm in awe of the writers who put together weekly scripts for television dramas. I mean one or two maybe, ok, but producing a teleplay EVERY WEEK??
The hardest job I've ever had was as a comic/comedienne performing my own material. You don't EVER get to "clock out" -- your mind is always observing, taking notes, and asking how, if tweaked only slightly, "that" could be funny. I imagine it's much the same with people who work in ad agencies. Sure, it's typically a team effort, but even so, sometimes, you're looking at a deadline, and the well has just run dry, and what do you do THEN?
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Thursday 30th of April 2009 05:57:21 AM
-- Edited by Nightowlhoot3 on Thursday 30th of April 2009 05:58:22 AM
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo.
OH, one of my big gripes in general and, does not have to be a professional situation. It all started when call waiting was invented. lol Domestically it only took one time for someone to call me and then put me on wait while they went to see who was on the other call. I mean how friggin rude. I did not call you and, now you expect me to sit on wait? Nope. I hang up. I have a client that does it a lot and, I take it but, only wait so long before I hang up. Anyone else that does not butter my bread gets no explanation. Just a click on my end. I hate call waiting. Rude Rude Rude. Gator.
this is hell week for me at work. lots of stuff to finish up before the summer break and this year theres a bit of a twist. the summer program isnt going to happen because of deficits so most of this week ive been fielding calls from the parents of adult people wondering what they might do this summer as an alternative.
aside from grousing about the lack of appropriate boundaries between parents and the privacy of adult children there is another really anoying parental habit and its prolly not something that is limited to these parental units but thats who im on the phone with most of the time so heres my gripe. and its a two part gripe.
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo. and of course they say oh im just going to get that ill be right back and then they wait for me to say ok which i never do, choosing instead the pregnant pause so that they might reflect a moment on their rudeness and yet they wait and finally say is that ok? usually my answer then is a stony, if the call is that important go ahead ill wait a minute but then i can hear them talking and its never important. ive yet to hear a life and death conversation going on. i also have a one minute rule, if they aint back in one min i hang up and when they call back they express their annoyance. the other thing that i really cant abide is people who come on spouting information so fast that you cant take it in. people are in such a rush these days its teeth gritting listening to them. i had to ask one dad today to slow down 4 times god his anxiety level was palpable. oh and while im at it ive thought of a third. its that biz speak thing. i swear there must be a dictionary of plastic speak out there. guy calls wanting info on the closed summer program and says id like to work the issues with you. what the hell does that mean? work the issues? he went on to use several more of these weird phrases that i suppose come from some board room rather than from his heart. all i could think of when listening to him was no wonder the business world is in collapse if it takes an hour for these people to get a simple thought out. ok ive vented i feel better lol
a chevy commerical came on last night and they want to "reinvent the ownership experience".
Uh ... ok ...
wonder how much that one cost 'em?
__________________
"Bicycles are trust and balance, and that's what love is." -- Nikki Giovanni
this is hell week for me at work. lots of stuff to finish up before the summer break and this year theres a bit of a twist. the summer program isnt going to happen because of deficits so most of this week ive been fielding calls from the parents of adult people wondering what they might do this summer as an alternative.
aside from grousing about the lack of appropriate boundaries between parents and the privacy of adult children there is another really anoying parental habit and its prolly not something that is limited to these parental units but thats who im on the phone with most of the time so heres my gripe. and its a two part gripe.
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo.
I have that happen to me all the time. Sometimes, they are even sitting in my office taking a call on their cell phone. I sit across the desk from them looking at them thinking, "you know I'm charging you $75 an hour to make dinner plans, right?" My cell phone charger sits on my desk, and if it rings when I have a client in the office or on the phone, there is a handy little "ignore" button on the phone that I'm not afraid to use. I would never take a call when speaking to a client, and I'm regularly amazed when they take calls while speaking to me.
and of course they say oh im just going to get that ill be right back and then they wait for me to say ok which i never do, choosing instead the pregnant pause so that they might reflect a moment on their rudeness and yet they wait and finally say is that ok? usually my answer then is a stony, if the call is that important go ahead ill wait a minute but then i can hear them talking and its never important. ive yet to hear a life and death conversation going on. i also have a one minute rule, if they aint back in one min i hang up and when they call back they express their annoyance.
I have the same one minute rule, or whenever my patience runs out, whichever comes first (usually the patience runs out after about 20 seconds.) I also do not give permission to take the call. I wonder how many others do this.
the other thing that i really cant abide is people who come on spouting information so fast that you cant take it in. people are in such a rush these days its teeth gritting listening to them. i had to ask one dad today to slow down 4 times god his anxiety level was palpable. oh and while im at it ive thought of a third. its that biz speak thing. i swear there must be a dictionary of plastic speak out there. guy calls wanting info on the closed summer program and says id like to work the issues with you. what the hell does that mean? work the issues? he went on to use several more of these weird phrases that i suppose come from some board room rather than from his heart. all i could think of when listening to him was no wonder the business world is in collapse if it takes an hour for these people to get a simple thought out. ok ive vented i feel better lol
LOL...this last gripe is my favorite! One client comes to mind. She's the controller for a large non-profit group, and she regularly uses redundant phrases with big 50-cent words trying to sound very professional. It always makes me giggle. Just talk to me like a human, wouldja? And, you're right, it DOES take an hour to get the thought out. While you're wading through the big meaningless words, you could have summarized the question or thought in under 2 sentences.
this is hell week for me at work. lots of stuff to finish up before the summer break and this year theres a bit of a twist. the summer program isnt going to happen because of deficits so most of this week ive been fielding calls from the parents of adult people wondering what they might do this summer as an alternative.
aside from grousing about the lack of appropriate boundaries between parents and the privacy of adult children there is another really anoying parental habit and its prolly not something that is limited to these parental units but thats who im on the phone with most of the time so heres my gripe. and its a two part gripe.
why would someone call someone from their home or office phone seeking professional services and then put the person they called on hold because their cell phone is ringing? this is just the rudest behavior imo. and of course they say oh im just going to get that ill be right back and then they wait for me to say ok which i never do, choosing instead the pregnant pause so that they might reflect a moment on their rudeness and yet they wait and finally say is that ok? usually my answer then is a stony, if the call is that important go ahead ill wait a minute but then i can hear them talking and its never important. ive yet to hear a life and death conversation going on. i also have a one minute rule, if they aint back in one min i hang up and when they call back they express their annoyance. the other thing that i really cant abide is people who come on spouting information so fast that you cant take it in. people are in such a rush these days its teeth gritting listening to them. i had to ask one dad today to slow down 4 times god his anxiety level was palpable. oh and while im at it ive thought of a third. its that biz speak thing. i swear there must be a dictionary of plastic speak out there. guy calls wanting info on the closed summer program and says id like to work the issues with you. what the hell does that mean? work the issues? he went on to use several more of these weird phrases that i suppose come from some board room rather than from his heart. all i could think of when listening to him was no wonder the business world is in collapse if it takes an hour for these people to get a simple thought out. ok ive vented i feel better lol
Then, after GETTING the job, had to quickly learn how to "do" it. I had two weeks, upon hearing I'd gotten the gig, to write and memorize my material for a very specfic crowd, and oh yeah, teach myself stand up. Discovered pretty quickly that I'm not the kind of person to just stand in front of a mic and tell jokes. COULD, and DID, with some success, even, but ... just wasn't my gig. Plus, my audience was generally speaking, pretty conservative, so my "natural" inclinations were anachronistic at best. So? "Blossom where you're planted." I changed the gig. :) Methodically turned it from comedienne to comic, created characters, and sort of told jokes "through" them, as well as adding shtick, so the stand up routines gradually became sketches. That, as an actor, was a lot easier for me. Even so, it was a real baptism by fire, and my classroom was 7-9 shows a week in a thousand seat venue. Comedy is like laser surgery. Requires INCREDIBLE precision. Every night after the show, I'd review what didn't get the kind of laugh I'd anticipated, dissect it, and try to figure out WHY it didn't, and then make changes and try THEM the next night. Simple things, like which word comes first in a sentence, or .... I remember learning, for instance, that "July" is a more "funny" word than "June." (If you're using a mid-western dialect, at least.) When I said "June" I got a (I suspect polite) chuckle. When I changed it to "July," I got an honest laugh. Who knew?? Also, there are things specific to that kind of comedy which are a departure from regular stage acting, like ... Okay, as an actor, I already knew that you don't move on an important line, but had to learn that when you deliver a punch line, you (exceptions noted) have to make sure the audience can see BOTH your eyes. I'd no previous experience with that, having always had before, the invisible wall between me and the audience. 
LOL. 
