\u201cI\u2019ll just keep you a minute.\u201d \u2013 \u201cGot a sec?\u201d \u2013 \u201cStop me if I already told you this.\u201d The doctor will be right with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All lies! But, if you asked the speakers of those statements if they ever lied, they\u2019d all say, \u201cNO!\u201d Most people don\u2019t think of themselves as liars. But they are! I am. We all are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest lies I\u2019ve ever heard, excluding promises from politicians, is the one an airline pilot puts out there over the public address system, \u201cWe\u2019re waiting for a space to dock; it will be about ten minutes, or so.\u201d The \u201cten minutes\u201d is a lie! So is the \u201cor so\u201d. I\u2019ve learned over the years that an airline pilot\u2019s ten minutes is at least 30, often longer, destroying the credibility of the \u201cor so\u201d as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How about the one you\u2019re told when the nurse puts you in the \u201clittle room\u201d and turns as she closes the door and says, \u201cThe doctor will be right with you.\u201d Or, the waiter who says, \u201cIll be right back with your check.\u201d Or the call center recording that states, \u201cThanks for holding; we\u2019ll be right with you. Your call is important to us.\u201d The dentist drilling on your tooth who says, \u201cHang on; I\u2019m almost done.\u201d The medical procedure you\u2019re undergoing, \u201cThis will sting a little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All lies, and from people swearing they never lie. They call it a white lie or bending the truth. Bend covers a lot of ground. So do fibs, stretching the truth and other phrases employed to convince ourselves, and others, that we\u2019re not liars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, lying is not the thing that gets me cranky, it\u2019s two specific lies; \u201cI\u2019ll just keep you a minute,\u201d and, \u201cStop me if I\u2019ve told you this before.\u201d In both of those cases (even when you respond to the \u201cstop me\u201d by telling them they already did tell you) you are in for it, a long, boring recollection that is so detailed you get lost in the telling. It\u2019s even worse when a married couple relates an incident. Not only do you get more detail than you can absorb, they operate like a tag team in a wrestling match, taking turns keeping the dialog going, bombarding you with facts and having side arguments between themselves about what those facts are. I go into a trance and wish they would type up the narrative so they could hand it to me with all their disagreements resolved. Then, I could skim through it at my leisure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got one last point to make in this rant, \u201cStay with me; it will just take a minute!\u201d (To be continued?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI\u2019ll just keep you a minute.\u201d \u2013 \u201cGot a sec?\u201d \u2013 \u201cStop me if I already told you this.\u201d The doctor will be right with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":76912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n