Tuesday, March 13, 2012

local connections

After that most recent post, I'd better lighten the mood! Last week I had a business meeting with someone I had not yet met from our town. Before our meeting could get going, I felt compelled to find that local connection that's always there in a small town. It took a few minutes but we were able to establish that his sister was HS friends with my daughters. OK now that that's settled we can go on with the business. It really didn't occur to me that people feel such a strong need to do that until I overheard a colleague that was talking to a local person she just met and they took a few minutes to establish that her neighbor was his cousin's ex girl friend. Whew. Glad we go that straightened out! The local connection can have more immediate, practical value, too. Years ago, when the only credit cards I had were CONOCO and AMOCO (OK that was several decades ago), I found myself low on gas in a rural area without those brands. I was in a neighboring county so I had to ask whether the proprietor would take a check from the town in which I lived. He saw the last name, presumed I was actually from that town, and asked 'who's your dad?' I told him my dad's name and he said 'sure, I know him, you're check's good.' I did not correct him to say that my dad lived clear across state and he probably was thinking of someone else by that name. So incorrect local connections can work, too. Fortunately in that case, it was a positive connection. I'd have been out of luck if he would have responded "That #@!%? Get out of here!"

2 comments:

  1. It's really interesting, this establishing of connections. I am always afraid to say anything about anyone because they are DEFINITELY related to a third person you both know.

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  2. yes, when we first moved here, we heard someone at the next table at a restaurant talking about one of our new colleagues and decided that it would be impolitic to do that ourselves.

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