Word of the Day

And the word of the day is not...shredder. Have you ever said something only to have it blow up in disaster? And you didn't even realize at the time it would be offensive? Me neither. But for the rest of the world, let's take a, purely, hypothetical situation.

Let's take someone, let's call her Baleea, just for kicks. And let's say that she's talking with someone elderly and asking for certain documentation. What the hey, let's say a will. And let's pretend, since this is all just pretend, that she tells Baleea that she gave a copy of the will to the office already. And let's say that she gave that copy to the office in 1982.

Here's where it gets interesting. Baleea points out that it is unlikely the office has a copy of a document given almost 30 years ago. Most likely it has been shredded.

This is where Peewee's Playhouse Word of the Day works in reverse. Instead of people screaming, jumping up and down, and laughing, imagine someone inhaling in shock, tearing up. You have unwittingly reminded them that they are human, fragile, mortal. That they have survived lung cancer but their will (or at least the office copy) has not.

Imagine the tricky dance steps Baleea now has to do, sans music, to soothe a very hurt individual while still pointing out the slim chance (but yes!!! there IS a chance) that this document somehow has survived 30 years and over 10,000 other client files. There may, in fact, be some large warehouse that the government has been paying rent on, calmly maintaining every document ever received throughout the life of an individual. Think Area 51 for paperwork. It's possible.

The good news is, this hypothetical story ends well. With Baleea apologizing and smoothing things over and a happy client leaving Baleea with a hug and a promise that she will, in fact, send another copy (since she's had the original will since the 1980's), and not to have Baleea try and hunt down a document that went into government vaults 30 years ago since that would be a misuse of time and resources.

The moral of this made-up tale? Think before you speak. And then, think again. Sometimes an off-the-cuff comment can remind someone of personal tragedy. Though you may not have meant to, you still hurt someone. Apologize and show a bit more humanity in the future.