A young girl who was writing a paper for school came to her
father, a salesperson, and asked, "Dad, what is the difference between
anger and exasperation?"
The salesman replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean." With that the father went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man who answered the phone, he said, "Hello, is Melvin there?"
The man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don't you learn to look up numbers before you dial them?"
"See," said the father to his daughter. "That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we annoyed him. Now watch...."
The father dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" asked the father.
"Now look here!" came the heated reply. "You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You've got a lot of nerve calling again!" The receiver slammed down hard.
The father turned to his daughter and said, "You see, that was anger. Now I'll show you what exasperation means." He dialed again the same number, and when a violent voice roared "Hello!" the father calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"
Moral of the story: If you're in sales teach your kids early the power of the telephone. Using the telephone they could earn a living is sales, journalism or research. Teach them that it would be wrong to play a "Melvin" on anyone unless of course you are in telephone sales and someone is particularly rude to you. Only after the customary three day waiting period is a "Melvin" absolutely required. As far as running into an actual Melvin... Don't worry! Our labs have done the math and statistically you should run into a Melvin only once in 28,432 calls. At ten calls a day, 200 selling days a year, that's only once every fourteen years! Isn't there a comet named Melvin? Regardless, clear sailing in my books.
"All these gadgets, the phone and the computer, they expose the inside of your brain in a way that's bad." - Michel Gondry
The salesman replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean." With that the father went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man who answered the phone, he said, "Hello, is Melvin there?"
The man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don't you learn to look up numbers before you dial them?"
"See," said the father to his daughter. "That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we annoyed him. Now watch...."
The father dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" asked the father.
"Now look here!" came the heated reply. "You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You've got a lot of nerve calling again!" The receiver slammed down hard.
The father turned to his daughter and said, "You see, that was anger. Now I'll show you what exasperation means." He dialed again the same number, and when a violent voice roared "Hello!" the father calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"
Moral of the story: If you're in sales teach your kids early the power of the telephone. Using the telephone they could earn a living is sales, journalism or research. Teach them that it would be wrong to play a "Melvin" on anyone unless of course you are in telephone sales and someone is particularly rude to you. Only after the customary three day waiting period is a "Melvin" absolutely required. As far as running into an actual Melvin... Don't worry! Our labs have done the math and statistically you should run into a Melvin only once in 28,432 calls. At ten calls a day, 200 selling days a year, that's only once every fourteen years! Isn't there a comet named Melvin? Regardless, clear sailing in my books.
"All these gadgets, the phone and the computer, they expose the inside of your brain in a way that's bad." - Michel Gondry
