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knew his dates innocent teasing was a black mark, if not in his
personnel file, on his personal file.
The next sure sign of a little cathood is teasing. Little cats go around
patting their friends paunches and saying, Enjoying that cheesecake, huh?
Or looking at their balding heads and saying, Hey, hair today, gone
tomorrow, huh? They think its hilarious to make a quip at someone elses
expense and say You dont have an inferiority complex. You are inferior!
Hardy har har.
Technique #33
Trash the Teasing
A dead giveaway of a little cat is his or her proclivity to tease. An
innocent joke at someone elses expense may get you a cheap laugh.
Nevertheless, the big cats will have the last one. Because youll bang your
head against the glass ceiling they construct to keep little cats from stepping
on their paws.
Never, ever, make a joke at anyone elses expense. Youll wind up paying
for it, dearly.
How to Give Them the Bad News (and Have Them Like You All the
More)
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh treated the humblest message runer like a
prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if
the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy
news, his head was chopped off.
Shades of that spirit pervade todays conversations. Once a friend and I
packed up some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for an outing. As we
waltzed happily out the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor,
rocking away on his porch, looked up at the sky and said, Oh boy, bad day
for a picnic. The newcast says its going to rain. I wanted to rub his face in
my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not for his gloomy weather report, for
his smile.
Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus. As I breatlessly shoved
my handful of cash across the Greyhound counter, the grinning sales agent
gushed, Oh that bus left five minutes ago. Dreams of decapitation!
Its not the news that makes someone angry. Its the unsypathetic attitude
with which its delivered. Everyone must give bad
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