The Importance of Effective Communication

A mom-and-pop bagel place sits right along my usual route to work. This morning, my mind locked on a "pepperoni pizza bagel," or as I call it, a "PPB". Their version of it is bagel dough with sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Really tasty, filling, satisfying and around 500 calories (out of my 2,700 for the day).

I love everything about their pepperoni pizza bagel except for one thing. They make it ahead of time, hold it in a warming tray, and then, when you order it, they put it in the oven. However, the last two times I've been in there, the PPB was room temperature or only slightly warmer when I ate it. When I spend valuable calories on something these days, I want it to be the most enjoyable eating experience I can have.

So this morning, like I do about once a week, I went in and ordered a PPB. The girl at the counter asked if I wanted red pepper flake or parmesan cheese on it. Like always, I told her, "red pepper flake." She removed the PPB from the warming area and put it in the oven. After the PPB was in the oven, I called out to her, "can you make sure you get it really hot?" She said, "no problem."

I paid for my PPB. When it was hot, she packaged it and gave it to me. I opened the box in my car and headed out the last mile or so to my office. The bagel pizza was nice and hot, just like I asked her. I took my first bite. It was wonderful.

Then, about 15 seconds later, I realized that she and I had had a terrible misunderstanding. When I told her that I wanted the PPB "really hot" she thought I meant from the red pepper flake. As my mouth began to sound the first of three alarms, then four, I looked down at the surface of my bagel pizza. I could barely see the pepperoni through the red pepper flake.

Soooooo... the next time you THINK you're communicating effectively, consider the conversation from the OTHER person's point of view. Otherwise, you could end up.... yeah.... wait for it..... getting burned. ;-)