Interesting Feedback
A patient’s wife whom I’ve known for years saw me poke my head out into the waiting room the other day and ran over to give me some feedback on my recent newspaper column.
She cocked her head to one side, tilting it slightly forward, raised a single brow, and without so much as a hint of a smile said, “I saw your column. Now that was interesting.”
Not “Great column.” Not “Nice.” Not “Oh how sweet.” But interesting, very, very interesting.
“Well thank you very much,” I replied, not quite sure whether I had just been complimented or not. What else could I do?
I found the whole incident, well, interesting.
5 Comments
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Mike the Eyeguy
I bet she would have found the crock pot interesting too!
Bill Gnade
Holiest Cow, Mike, you busted me up. How I LOVE that you turned up your car radio to 11! That’s just the best! I swear, you did that just for me (I know you didn’t, but that’s OK).
“Interesting,” eh? That’s not the worst thing to hear, of course, but it sure isn’t the best. Sometimes it means that you have been utterly abstruse; your readers have no idea what you’re saying. This time, however, I think there was something in your column your lady friend found objectionable. Perhaps you were too candid; perhaps you showed too much of yourself. And that image of your wife waving a Zippo while rocking out on some dude’s shoulders (those could have been mine!) was far too suggestive of “free love.” And your blatant mishandling of that perfectly G-rated metaphor — “afternoon delight” — and twisting it into something, well, “seckshuallll,” was really a little edgy for the Community Living pages.
Or maybe, just maybe, your lady friend was surprised to find you so romantic, even so disarmingly practical in what love is all about. Could you have piqued her curiosity, or caught her fancy? Just a little, perhaps?
Naaaah!
GREAT column! (And very interesting.)
Gnade
Was it not Arte Johnson’s “Wolfgang” (from Laugh-In) who said, “Very interesting … but schtupid”? There’s NO WAY your friend could have meant the same sort of thing, is there? Naaaah!
Oh, BTW: I dropped the aviators (I got them in 6th grade, the “Shortstop” model) for a pair of round tortoise shell hybrids after seeing “Ghostbusters;” then, I went for a very German-looking round wire rim in black, then an oval in the same, and now, I am in those little rimless jobs that sort of float on my nose. How I wish they had some cool pince-nez out there, like the ones Morpheus wore in “The Matrix.” And what of the monocle? Now that’s a thing that deserves a renascence! Add some wit, girth, and a cape and sword cane, and we might be able to revive dear old Chesterton.
Mike the Eyeguy
No, “interesting” wasn’t the worst thing to hear, in fact, I’m just thankful somebody read it! I consider it my solemn duty to try to loosen up The Bible Belt a notch or two.
I’m glad you liked it. And BTW, rimless frames are very “in” right now, so you’re right with the times. If Obama wore glasses (he doesn’t, of course, x-ray vision and all) they would be rimless pince-nez.
Bill Gnade
Superman, indeed!
(I have been awfully rough on our man Obama lately at my blog. I pray you will not hold this against me. But the Obama phenomenon is at times rather strange.)
Yes, I know I am right there with the fashions regarding the rimless specs, but they don’t give me the gravitas my old black wires gave my hoary face.
As with all spectacles, image is everything….
Gnade
Mike the Eyeguy
I don’t hold it against you; you made some very salient points. Besides, if Obama can’t survive the best that Gnade can throw at him, how can he possibly hope to get past first Billary and then the Republican Swift Boaters? 🙂
Just be careful not to make a spectacle of yourself…sorry.