I have mentioned this to many of my friends over the years – my manager, Bill, at one of my earlier jobs told be once – communication is a 2 way street. When you tell someone something, you should verify that he heard what you meant to communicate. And vice versa, i.e., when you hear something, verify that what you heard was what the communicator meant.

Anyway, this morning I went to one of my coffee places and as I stood at the counter I said something like, “I’ve had your latte and also your cappuccino, how about I try your cortado today”. the guys behind the counter even asked me if I wanted the “Seltzer water” and I said “sure”. We continue talk about what else I might want, i.e., something to eat maybe, and I respond that I was not really wanting any “food” right now and was going to stick the coffee. Maybe I’ll get some coffee a little later.

He tells me what I owe, of course I don’t pay attention to the total but sign and head to the patio outside with my laptop. A few minutes later I go find out that he got me 3 coffees (and he forgot the seltzer water). It didn’t take me long to figure out what had happened and to notice where I went wrong 😦 I let Bill, and all my friends I had repeated his teaching to, down – again.

In addition to letting my friends down I also spent way more on my morning coffee than I meant to, not to mention I had 2 extra coffee that I had not meant to. Worse than the extra coffees was the fact that the beverages came in to-go / paper cups because I am sure he assumed that since I ordered 3 I must have meant I wanted to them to-go, even though I said I wanted them for there – this part I know I did communicate because he did repeat it back to me when I ordered.

– manzoor