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No,
Seriously? I Was Kiddingby
Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal | |
I
recently read an article which told how Harvard or some other eminently respectable
institution conducted a study which found that over 50% of the time humor in emails
is misinterpreted or missed entirely. Because of the lack of facial cues, intonation
and body language. Presumably not because the emails were not funny in the first
place. I happen to know that this is often true. Maybe more often than 50% of
the time. Either that, or I am way not funnier than average. Smiley face. I had
a big tiff with someone once because I thought I was being funny, I thought that
the thing I was saying was so obviously absurd that nobody in their right mind
could take it seriously, but I was wrong. The person took it seriously and felt
grievously wounded as a result. That misunderstanding was the beginning of the
end for us. I am trying to be brave.
I am also trying to remember not
to try to be funny, except when I am supposed to be. For example, I am no longer
allowed to say anything at staff meetings. My rule, but I am sure my boss agrees
with it. If I want to be funny in an email I always make sure to add, "HAHA just
a big fat ol' joke, kidding around, just joshin', smiley face, grinny face, desperate
not to be misunderstood face." Which seems to work okay. But I need to quit trying
to be funny on the phone with strangers too. Because while they will certainly
have my vocal cues they do not know me and will not be able to interpret those
cues. They will not be able to see my facial expression, the wry lift of my eyebrow,
the little self-deprecating smile, and there are, as yet, no emoticons for use
on the phone. Not counting text messaging. My heavens, the world has gotten complicated!!!
A person can't even have a good old fashioned rant anymore without saying "except
for this" and "except for that." Sheesh.
On
with my rant. I embarrassed myself very much on the phone just now. I was trying
to reorder prescriptions from our (mandatory and exceedingly inconvenient) mail-order
prescription company. The company uses a voice prompt system. Everything was okay
for the first prescription, smooth as glass. Then we got to the second prescription.
"Please state the prescription number found on the top right hand corner of the
label." Well, the person I was ordering that refill for wasn't home and I didn't
have the number. "I don't have the number" I stated in a clear voice. "I'm sorry.
I didn't get that. Please state the prescription number." Oh boy! This was going
to be a problem. "AAAAYYYYY doooooon-TAH haaaaavvviiiii-TAH." I was trying to
be clear, but I already knew that I needed a human bean. Smiley face. "My abject
apologies. I was not able to understand that. Please hold for an operator." Hallelujah!
"I'm sorry. I did not get that." Of course not, you are a godless computer program
with impeccable manners and a very annoying and yet strangely hypnotizing voice!
Smiley face.
Finally, I got the human operator and she got me all fixed
up in a matter of minutes. Oh yeah! That's what I like! Good old fashioned human
efficiency. "Thank you, Crystal! You were sure a lot more help than that robot
I was talking to before." I was joking. I know it wasn't a robot. I know it was
a computer program. But good old efficient Crystal did not have any facial cues
to work with. "Oh no, ma'am. That was not a robot. It was our automated voice
prompt computer program. You see ma'am, while there are robots which work in such
industries as manufacturing, mining and even deep sea exploration, we have not
yet developed the technology to create robots who can listen to a customer and
then follow a decision tree with complete accuracy. We here at MediMailCo know
how important the human touch is in business."
And then she said, "Beep."
I swear she did. I'm absolutely sure that she did. Only, I had no facial cues
to judge by. So, now I don't know if I feel really embarrassed because she thinks
I am an idiot, or really scared because MediMailCo is obviously run by super intelligent
robots who are probably planning to take over the world, or really pleased that
the operators at my prescription company are efficient and funny. Perplexed face.
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