Common Sense Sure Goes a LONG Way!
I told the store manager who also happened to be the person helping me that it was $19.99. He verified and said that I could either wait for him to call the manager to reverse the charge OR (and here comes the idiocy moment of the year)....
He asked me if it would be “cool if I just paid the extra $3.00”. I have never been “asked” to pay more than the display price for something.
To be honest, this is not the first time I have questioned society recently in terms of common sense. It seems that as time goes on either I am acquiring so much common sense that everyone else seems like they have none (very doubtful of this) or a high percentage of people just don’t have any.
Common sense is just not so common.
Maybe it has never been.Ever been to a show and had someone behind you continually talk throughout?
This is another common sense flaw that many make. You pay for a ticket to the show, but it is a show. Watch it. Common Sense should tell you that you WAIT to talk to whoever you are with until after the show, not during.
I went to a cirque du soleil a few days ago in Phoenix (an equestrian based one called Cavalia) and there were no less than 3 groups of people talking out loud around us during the performance. If you are one that thinks it is OK to talk out loud during a performance or at a movie theatre you may be lacking the common sense gene.
I kind of lose hope when the “masses” don’t have common sense and I do know that common sense leaks into the real world. People trying to create businesses don’t have much of it are going to be left behind if they don’t get some in a hurry.
I think that over the years with their employment and the “manufacturing” mindset (everyone has their role in the process), many folks have become accustomed to being told what to do....instead of learning what to do,what works, and why.
If people don’t have the common sense to do things that to me and to others (with common sense) seem so obvious, what else are they totally missing out on a day to day basis? Are they part of a social circle that also carries little common sense through their day to day lives? Is it me that does not have common sense, because it is uncommon?
Geez...I have so many questions unanswered here, but I am going to spend a portion of my time this year trying to understand common sense, who has it, how it can be defined, and why some people seem to have more of it than others.
What I do know is that if you are an adult and you don’t have it now, it is going to be difficult to learn (because you likely think you have it). If you are one of the people that talk out loud during performances, movies, or cannot understand that someone would not want to pay more than the price you offer in a store, then smarten up. You are the part of the problem with the lack of common sense that seems to be more prevalent than ever in this world.
Applying Common Sense to Your Business?
First, I get a little upset when people think of business as a sequence of steps. It is not. Business is an interaction between a customer and a product and it happens often times in a very predictable way (if you understand that customer).Think about your activities online in an HUMAN way, think about things from the customers/visitor perspective and don’t expect success to be a series of sequential steps. It is NOT!
Think about these things when starting and operating your business online...
- What would someone be thinking when they visit your site?
- What would be the right thing to do in every situation (ethically and from a common sense standpoint)?
- Are you treating your visitor fairly, are you giving yourself the benefit of the doubt?
- Will a real person be able to understand what is going on?
- Are you actually helping people or are you just trying to sell stuff?
- Are you doing strictly what people tell you to do or you thinking things through from your own perspective?
- Are your customers complaining about something? (hint: fix it)
Think about it...seriously.
Recent Comments
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Kyle, I think what is happening. is the age of computers and internet, is providing enormous amounts of information, but very little interaction between humans meeting and talking in the open air.
How do people get their news now. They don't read newspapers, or even watch TV.
This is a pity for Western Civilisation, as we know it. Our societies may be hijacked without our realising it.
People interact more now, just in a different way. I guess there could be an argument by the younger generations that the older folks lack "technology" common sense, whereas the older generation could argue that the younger lacks "real world" or "work ethic" related common sense. I think both in many cases could be true.
Some of these moments are indeed unbelievable. We have two going right now in my family. The simpler of the two is...
My 94-year old mother closes a checking account a few months ago, to combine it with one in another bank. Transfer of balance goes thru fine. Then, a month later, she gets a letter saying the account actually cannot be closed (what?)because it had accrued a few cents interest the very next day, giving it a positive balance. Can't close an account that has a positive balance...
So two days later she gets a monthly statement on that account showing it indeed it has not been closed and has a few pennies in it...and they"ve deducted a $25 penalty for the month because those few pennies do not meet the required $100 minimum balance.
The account is now in the hole. She happens to be by then in the hospital and is too sick to even open her bills. , her mail piles up til my brother opens it, discovers the ridiculous sequence...plus the newest bank statement with an additional $25 overdraft charge. Another one ! Clearly this could go on forever.
Dealing with the bank by phone leads nowhere....because he is obviously not her. And they won't talk to him. (privacy laws, you know.) So, he heads over to the bank to find a real person, finally gets the manager. Manager won't talk, without my brother having power of attorney.
Well, we had thought ahead about that, and sometime ago my mother had given power of attorney to the family's actual attorney. He could write an attorney's letter enclosing a copy of his POA, which would cost my mother an additional $75 or something.
Still an open case.
I' ll skip the one my daughter is dealing with right now. It's just too convoluted.
That is craziness. Why do you think the banks are some of the richest companies in the world. They do things like this! Sorry to hear about your frustrations and I hope you get the issues resolved. I think some institutions purposely manufacture rules that don't make sense to improve their bottom line.
Now that just makes Sense... This is another Awesome Article Kyle. The points you make are so basic. I think that is what just slips the minds of the masses.. Such as the During Shows or Sporting events. I give a pass at Concerts as they are a more interactive event. But Seriously people. Drop the talk while watching a movie, and put away the phone during dinner..
Yeah, concerts are the opposite. You lack common sense if you go to a concert and expect that people are going to sit down in their seats and be quiet.
Is it a lack of common sense or....................that people just don't give a damn about anybody but themselves? We have raised a society on "It's all about me and I want it now". Manners.........forget about it, but then again.........I guess that does just shows a lack of common sense!
A bit of both. To be honest, I think that most people are good spirited or have it in them. But some more than others have moments of being rude, disingenuous and show lack of common sense in some of the simplest of situations.
This is a great article and in spite of just being charged by my landlord for lacking common sense, one of those things being I should be in a job working and not messing around with the computer.
I have long been aware that employment i.e. employee mentality actually DULLS the mind, not enhance it. At least I know when to be quiet and do my work when others yakety-yak about things they have no business gossiping about.
You bring up a very good point here, and is exactly my concerns having brought up in a blog post today. I think this is extremely valid - sharing and customer relations hinge on being able to communicate effectively. I've had problems with social interaction all of my life. I still do.
I'm not doing a very good job with that, yet others say not to worry about that and get busy with my Internet marketing. I can see the point and this is true, but effective communication IS a part of that, if not ALL of it, or BASED on it. I'm in a vicious cycle here.
Today, in fact, just a few minutes ago, probably when you posted this, was told that I lack common sense big time, that I'm a very stubborn person ... and told by the same person two days ago that I have nothing to say.
This is why I wrote my blog post. Mine too, is a rant. What you just said is outstanding. What causes lack of common sense in Western society and why are we thought of as being so "dumb?"
You said it above. This is why I hate employment (not to mention it takes the lion's share of one's time, energy and earning potential.) You get your thinking done for you.
Daniel, based on how you write and how you interact here within WA (and through your sites) I can assure you that you have no issues with communicating. You are very eloquent in the way you piece your words together. I would not be too concerned about people telling you that you have no common sense...sticks and stones right?
Insanity is the byproduct of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This to a great degree is what many forms of employment are for people, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting some miraculous life change or a big shift in happiness. Believing that is the case in my opinion is insanity.
What you are doing and what you have learned over the past couple of years are things that you should hold in high regard. You are only getting better and better by doing, so keep it going man!
I have found that people either have common sense, or they don't. Just my take on things and my personal opinion. I have little time to waste on people who are just plain rude and ignorant such as those who talk during a movie, show or other performance. Life is too short to not grab the gold ring and pull yourself up.
As for the idiot with common sense and the genius, I would as prefer the idiot with common sense. You can always improve the education of the idiot, but you cannot give common sense to a genius. Much like you cannot make a silk purse out of a cow's ear, as the old saying goes.
As far as business dealings, put yourself in the shoes of the customer, if the shoe feels great, then you are doing the job right. And as far as the Radio Shack employee goes, I have fired people for stupid things just like that. He is either lazy, ignorant, or a combination of the two.
I truly believe a person either is born with common sense or they aren't. Occasionally you find people with intelligence and common sense, wish there were more of them!
Enjoyed this one very much!
I actually think most people believe they have common sense, they tend to think others are the ones that don't have common sense. The same way most people think they are better looking than the average (when polled) and smarter than average (when polled). We all can't be "above average" with our self assessments, so some of us have to be wrong.
Common sense is developed and it something that is learned through experiences. The less interactions and the less experiences that someone has, the less common sense they also tend to have. Put me in a white box for 20 years and I can assure you that I am not going to have much sense.
So, what was your reply to the moronic question? Please, get your manager and your coat. I won't do business with stupid people.
In several of these cases, you appear to be talking about common courtesy not common sense. Lack of common sense allows people to win the Darwin Awards. Lack of Common Courtesy just pisses people off.
Courtesy and common sense are closely tied together in my opinion. Common sense is "how would others react if I did this" or "is this a good idea" or "should I be doing this". Like any sense and very similar to intuition, common sense is very much natural and should not take much thought. It is developed through time and experience and it appears that a lot of people are not getting experience.
Ya know, I have always had a saying and I swear it gets used more now than ever, because people seem to go out of their way to be either totally stupid or rude. Sometimes both. My mother always told me that breeding shows, and I am a firm believer in that. I also am fond of saying that I hate stupid people cause we all know you cannot fix stupid. Got that from a softball coach, and I tend to agree with him. '
This is the ME generation and all they seem to do is screw everything up that they get near. No wonder the world is so screwed up today. And I agree, it just pisses people off. That is why I prefer my dogs to most people, they are more thoughtful and polite.
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Hi Kyle
I don't think that the amount of common sense people have is different now from what it has ever been. It's not as if there is a shared understanding between people of what common sense actually means .
You gave the example of being in Radio Shack and being asked to pay the $3 extra which you think was ridiculous. It could also be viewed differently. Rather than having to spend time on getting a discount, having problems with his till roll, having a discount where none was built into the system, having you wait any longer - the store manager made the judgement to ask you for the extra money. Ridiculous it may seem but in his context - it may have appeared the 'common sense' thing to do.
The question I would ask, is who is to be the judge of 'common sense'. Is it government, is it society, is it employers, or is it us as individuals?
Your second example is of people talking through shows You say it makes 'common sense' to talk afterwards not through it. It's one of my pet hates as well, but I know several people who have talked through events (for different reasons) and have insisted that they enjoyed it and can even talk about it.
To me it has nothing to do with common sense because I cannot be the judge of what they will get out of it - that is something they can determine from themselves. For me it is a lack of bad manners because they are spoiling other people's enjoyment. (And of course you could ask who am I to be the judge of good manners)
So I don't think common sense is necessarily as clear cut in many situations as you hope it might be or think it should be and certainly different disciplines don't view it in the same way. All of us do things that would seem to lack 'common sense' - some of us more often than others.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines 'common sense' as:
"the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way" - however, it's difficult to identify what knowledge is 'common sense'!
I think you are a little harsh on your fellow human beings. Common sense may well help us do well in life and in business but what exactly that is or the success of it will be open to interpretation.
Enjoyed your post
Beverley
Excellent points, Beverley. I would add that more than a lack of common sense, my opinion is, many people have a lack of courtesy and consideration for people in general. They may not think about or care how their words and actions affect those around them.
I understand your point, Kyle. I'd also like to add, you never know what a person is going through that may cause them to appear inconsiderate to others or display a "lack of common sense". When I run into the type of people you describe in your post, Kyle, I try to send loving and kind thoughts their way. This helps me not to become frustrated by their behavior and keeps me on an even keel emotionally. I believe it helps the other person or persons, too, so it's a win-win.
Thanks for sharing, it was a good read.
P.S., As to your reference about being worried, my dear, I'm not worried about a thing. I just added my opinion with what I hoped would be a little encouragement as well.
I agree with what you have said, who can determine common sense. Who defines it and how literal should we use the term common sense as many use it very loose in the sense of "living in a reasonable way" where others are a bit more strict with their definition and hold it to personal safety.
Being reasonable to me is also a matter of having proper manners....
But again, is my common sense not so common. And is someone else's common sense the right one. I guess I will never know, all I know is what I have been taught, the interactions I have had over the years, and what I have learned to be the right or wrong way to go about things (along with some intuition).
Perhaps one day I will be able to wrap my ahead around common sense, who has it, who doesn't and who defines what it is. If you find out before me, please let me know. :)
And Sonya, don't worry. I always give people decency and the time of day. I am rarely if ever rude in return, just not the way I go about things. I usually deal matters like this in congenial way and then after the fact take the time to "grumble" a little bit like here. I wanted to emphasize the point that people tend to put very little thinking into their actual business other than what they are told to do or their expectations. The extra mile thinking is what will typically lead someone to success (and their common sense approach to business and the people they are dealing with).
PS. The "manager" was able to fix the charge in 15 seconds...he was just a lazy SOB.
@BIS: I think that common sense dictates it's a lack of "good" manners. :P http://d.pr/i/ARNC
Good little dialogue we have running here. I agree with you Beverley, this business of determining who has the right to define and judge is well beyond common sense, whereas common courtesy is a learned behavior.