I have a friend. I hope you’re lucky enough to have one like him too. He’s a joy to be around. But sometimes it’s the slightly unaware way he communicates.
When that happens it feels less like my friend of 20 years talking. And more like a recital made of equal parts academic privilege and F500 corporate policy.
My friend lives in Spain where bedtimes are sadistically late. I live in Prague, which has historically had one of the earliest start times on the continent. So we tag each other a lot on DM. The response to our last electronic waltz was, “Let’s choose a mutually convenient time during the week to connect.”
“Mutually convenient time?” It felt like I was stuck in a corporate recital. But perhaps he had a long day and was just tired—and so that muscle memory kicked in. Then I reminded myself that I was trained in the same kind of recital. For the longest time I talked that way too. It was easy and oddly comfortable.
So next time around, when it comes to a “mutually convenient” time, perhaps I’ll just suggest something like “How about now?”