Month: February 2013

So, what to do?

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31st Academy Awards Presentations, Pantages Th...

31st Academy Awards Presentations, Pantages Theater, Hollywood, 1959 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s Oscar night and here I sit trying to decide whether to watch the Academy Awards show. Downton Abbey‘s season is over for this year and the new season of Game of Thrones hasn’t begun. Enlightened comes on at 8:30 but that’s only a 30 minute excursion. So, what to do?

I had the silly notion that if I sat here and typed drivel long enough, eventually, I’d come up with some sort of life altering epiphany, but no luck. So, what to do?

I should be diligently studying the manual for the next module in my quest for a CCP (Certified Compensation Professional) but, come on, it’s Sunday evening and work can wait until tomorrow. So, what to do?

I could pay bills! Nope. Not in the mood. So, what to do?

I could eat cashews and drink Dr. Pepper. I have both in my kitchen.  But if I went in there I’d see how messy the kitchen is and load myself up with guilt because I should be cleaning it right this very minute. So, what to do?

Yep, you guessed it. This is me being bored. So, now I’ll say ‘so long’ to all you nice people and apologize for taking up your valuable time. Assuming, of course, you’re foolish enough to still be reading this nonsense.

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Green is good!

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I was commenting on a post from When all is said … and I had an idea. Not necessarily an original idea, but it’s the first time it popped into my brain so I’m calling it my idea.

You see, I read a lot.

Not only do I read a lot but I buy a lot of books, mostly from Amazon.com. As a result I pretty much always have a stack of empty cardboard shipping boxes piled up in a corner, sometimes in my home office (mostly), sometimes in the kitchen (at the moment).

Reusable-MailerMy idea is that Amazon should provide a reusable shipping carton that we can swap back and forth.

They could send me my monthly fix of books (aka, my regular order) in the reusable plastic carton then I could fold it down and return it empty just in time for the next month’s shipment.

Just think of all the cardboard, and the trees, that would be saved.

Even better, Amazon could provide the cartons printed on the inside with the “postage paid business reply” stuff needed so when returned to them empty it wouldn’t cost me a penny. But would they just up their shipping charges or the cost of books? Maybe, or maybe not. Anyway, the failing Postal Service could also benefit because they’d be getting paid for the mailing costs going both ways. Which is one more than they’re getting paid for at the moment.

Amazon would save tons of money because they wouldn’t have to keep buying loads of cardboard boxes. They would have to keep buying the reusable plastic cartons, though, because, let’s face it, even plastic wears out eventually. But, not as often as cardboard!

They wouldn’t have to send my books in my carton either. They could just send them in any old reusable plastic carton from anybody’s last book order. I mean, why would they want to have to keep up with which carton belongs to which customer?

The cartons would be printed on one side with the Amazon logo and a place to slap a shipping label. The other side could have the standard business reply mailer stuff. You know, the bar code, etc.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make reusable packing tape.

Hmmm …

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Saying what comes naturally

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I was reading a great post at the Jotter’s Joint earlier and it reminded me of something that happened recently …

I was at a work luncheon the other day. It was one of those service award things  and I sitting at a table with 5 coworkers from departments outside my own who apparently weren’t in the mood to talk.

After a while it got awkward

Being the dyed-in-the-wool introvert that I am, I was perfectly fine with just munching my lunch and enjoying the scenery. But, as I looked around at the others, it seemed as though some were a bit uncomfortable with the quiet. So, beginning with the guy sitting next to me, I started asking questions.

I guess I went around the table a couple of times asking more and more questions until, after a bit, one of them commented that I sounded like I was interviewing them for a job. Without batting an eyelash, I switched gears and asked … if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

You see, in my job I write about HR topics and, like most folks when trying to make conversation, I tend to focus on things that come naturally to me. For example to get the conversation going, I asked …

How long have you been in your current job?

What is it about your job that you like the best?

My coworker was right

I was asking questions like a job interviewer, like the HR director I used to be. It just comes naturally. Small talk, unfortunately,  does not.

The neat thing, at least for me, was that once I asked the lame question about the tree, everyone cracked up. The ice broke.

The point is

It doesn’t really matter what your small talk is about. What matters is that you throw it out there.

Sometimes, it might fall flat. But, other times, it just may open the gate to a trip into other people’s worlds.

And, much like writing whatever is on your mind to keep the juices flowing, it is well worth the effort.

Even for us introverts.

A hearty thank you to the Jotter’s Joint for sharing some juice with this old girl!