THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR

Well I wish that was a more joyous thought at times. For me the next voice I often hear is NOT the one I want to hear. It most of the time belongs to my secretary. And that almost always is other than exciting.

It isn’t that I dread talking to my secretary. I just get wore out from her proneness towards being utterly gullible and constantly panicking.

Some people don’t make worrying a lifestyle. If they do most of the time they at least worry about important stuff.

In her case she worries about everything imaginable and even worries when there is nothing to worry about. Honestly I think she would get totally depressed if she didn’t think the world was going to end.

What amazes me is how she is able to function and get her job done despite this problem. I’m not sure how she copes with that reality.

As best as I can tell she manages to turn it into a form of worry and that makes her able to give it attention. To me as long as it works for her and she gets her job done, I’m happy.

About the biggest problem I have with this issue is when she talks to other people as my secretary. I can’t believe how she is so capable of utterly infecting some folks with her joy of panic.

But she manages it. And almost to a level of being mind boggling. Because I have seen the occasional optimist end up getting depressed after she chats with them.

No, I’m not making that part up. It is truly fascinating. Which makes it at least interesting in a demented way.

In my position of being Mayor I do get more than my share of contacts with businessmen in my city. Some are very upbeat and positive by nature. Truly a joy to be around.

So there are times when I have to be sure that if I need to meet them I go to their business. If I allow them to come to my office it can be a real disaster.

There was that incident unfortunately the other day when I got busy and forgot to schedule a meeting with this one businessman at his place of business. He sells life insurance and investment packages. So beating upbeat is really important to him when dealing with his customers.

Well he ended up coming by the office and before I got to talk to him he spent a little time chatting with my secretary. I don’t want to be too critical, but when I hard driving, ambitious and successful businessman shuffles into my office with his head hanging down I don’t treat it as a good thing. Then when he figures life is hopeless and is thinking of joining a monastery, I call it serious. He survived, so did my secretary, but I have definitely worked harder on not forgetting meetings!