February is a good month for honoring friendliness. The advance of Valentine’s Day reminds us of warm feelings and sweet words and prompts us to reflect fondly on many of the people in our lives. What a good time to take advantage of that inclination...
Are we under attack? I don’t think we are, but apparently we’re really busy and have to move quickly. People “run out and grab a sandwich”, or they invite others to “grab some lunch” with them. Pause a moment for this visual. What’s happening in the...
Working, as I do, with a communication skills training company, I’ve learned the value of good communication. And being a dog, by ‘value’ I mean what’s in it for me. My needs are modest and pretty well known to my correspondents, so it...
At one time the standard response to expressions of gratitude was “You’re welcome.” This seems to have gone out of favor. Like many good, plain words and phrases, this one is frequently replaced by a variety of substitutes: “No problem” “Sure” “Yep” “That’s fine” “No worries” “It’s nothing” And the more...
Agnes suffered a reprimand from her boss. Angry and embarrassed, she spent her lunch date with Lonnie blasting her unfair, unreasonable, mean, and spiteful boss. Lonnie felt her pain, encouraged a dessert, and reminded her of her wonderful qualities. The next day she told Lonnie that...
Your aunt is coming to town and you’d like to take her to dinner. You have 2 restaurants in mind so you ask a friend what he knows about them. He prefaces his positive statements about one restaurant with strongly negative statements about the other,...