Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
In a previous post you mentioned minimizing mistakes, unfortunately for social interactions the more mistakes one makes (with no real repurcussions) the more one learns. Examples would be proper ettiquette of silver, glasses, etc. The more you do it the more comfortable you become using them and don't wonder "What's the small tiny fork for???"
|
That's the shrimp fork. Shrimp cocktail, second course at Tuesday's dinner. Grace gave me training before the party on stuff like that. I learned the basic rules of etiquette as a little girl, but those were working class Irish etiquette rules, not upper-class dinner party rules, which operate a lot differently.
Quote:
My mother in law wonders how I know PCs so well. I know more about PCs because I made more mistakes than the average person. Instead of freaking out like my mother in law does, I turn the machine off and back on trying to figure out what I did wrong to cause the problem.
It's all about experience. Experience isn't just good ends, but also some bad ones. You do have to try to keep the good higher than the bad, that's for sure.
|
My solution is to say, "Sissy, I messed up. Come fix this please." And she does. If she can't fix it, we ask Grace. If Grace can't fix it, it's time to reformat the hard disc and reinstall windows, cuz it can't be saved. Fortunately, this has only happened once.
The difference is that I can look up etiquette rules in a book and know what those are, and even then I made a bunch of mistakes Tuesday, like asking the maid to call me by my first name (that one still seems bizarre to me) and asking for a Pepsi. The same is true with a PC. With a person, it doesn't work. I can't go on the internet, do a search on Dr. KGB, and figure out how to talk to her while minimizing mistakes and maximizing the possibility of a successful interaction.
As I'm typing this, I keep wondering, am I arguing for the status quo, or just explaining why I do things the way I do? How can I tell the difference?
Gilda