Hello, What Do You Do?

Mr. Customer Relations Officer: "Ah, glad you could make it, Mr. Works For the Competition - please, have a seat!

I've already told my colleagues all about your Project "A" that I evaluated 4 years ago when we were involved in the Such-n-Such collaboration deal, so my associates are very excited to meet you. Let me introduce everyone - here is Mr. Head of our Marketing Department, and beside him is Miss Advancing into the Marketing Department from Customer Relations, and right next to her, seated at your left, is Mr. Media Relations who just joined us recently from Company Elsewhere - and we are so glad to have him all on board now, right, Team?

(The customary handshakes take place, formal gestures, nods, polite "Nice to meet you" tid-bits, etc)

All seated

Mr. Marketing Department: "So, Mr. Works For the Competition, what is it that you do?"

Jean is shopping while in a neighboring town doing business errands. While shopping, she bumps into Carol, an old school-mate from college that Jean hasn't seen in about 7 years.

"Carol...Carol B? From Such-n-such college?"

"Yes...Jean! Hi ! Yes, it's me - I live in Neighbor Town - what are you doing here?"

"I live in Other Town, actually, Carol, I'm just shopping after finishing up some business I had in Neighbor Town! Wow, you look good - it's been a long time - what? 7 or 8 years, since I last saw you?"

"Yes, I'm sure it's been that long at least. You look like you're doing well, too, Jean - tell me - what do you do?"

The local Food Mart is very busy on this day. Line ups at checkout spots are very long because the time is during the average daily supper hour. Apparently, almost every working person in Workperson Town FORGOT to take something intended for supper out of the freezer earlier this morning.

People are impatient, tired and hungry - quite naturally at this hour - so, while most are dealing with the long waiting times silently - or caught up in their own world of headsets and ipods, a few are actually attempting to be polite to one another.

Customer A, noticing that Stranger B has nearly all the same items as he does in his basket: "I like the pre-shredded Jack cheese as well - just noticing that we have a lot of the same items, man, these line-ups are long, hey?"

Stranger B: "Yes, very long line-ups, which is why I ended up buying the pre-shredded - long day, I'll not want to do the food prep myself when I get home."

Customer A: "You're just heading home from work then, too?"

Stranger B: "Yes - long day at work."

Customer A, extending the the chit-chat: "Oh, I see, I see, and what is it that you do?"

Is 'what we do' really 'Who We Are?'

Do you ever ask, "Who Are You?"