Rollo Tomassi
Master Don Juan
Hesitate and ye are lost.
This takes practice and a constant effort to perfect, but when you have it becomes second nature - so here's a secret; you must learn to pay attention. That sounds stupidly obvious of course, but how many times have we let opportunity slip by simply because we were distracted or preoccupied with ourselves?
I'll give you a couple of funny examples here. I've trained myself over the course of about 6 years to be attentive and conscious of people and their conversations in my immediate surroundings. As a result this has made for some really fun encounters. I was in line at a local grocery store last Saturday morning and I was listening in on the conversation of the young people who were behind the checkout counter. There was a cashier who was intent on her ringing everyone up, doing her job and behind her was the assistant manager and a bagging guy. The assistant manager looked about 25 and slightly fat, the bagging guy was about 19, tall, maybe a high school athlete once and they were engaged in a conversation about men and women interacting. During the course of their conversation the guy mentioned how it was OK to call a woman cute or hot, or complimenting her on her beauty by say she was "handsome." The asst. manager (Amanda, by her name tag) took offense saying "oh yeah, good luck with calling a girl 'handsome', she'd slap your face!"
I was behind only one person in the line so I timed myself and waited for their conversation to develop a bit more. I then smiled at the cashier, made eye contact, paid for my goods and as I was getting my bag from the bag guy, I looked at Amanda, smiled and said with all the sincerity in the world, "Amanda, has anyone told you what a handsome young lady you are lately?" She instantly blushed, and had a coy look on her face. I then turned to the kid and said, "It's all in the delivery son, it's all in the delivery." He and the cashier busted up laughing at Amanda as I left, but this was all because I cared enough to pay attention.
On another occasion about 2 months ago, I was standing in line at Firehouse Subs with some co-workers. If you've ever been into Firehouse you know that they make a habit of saying "Welcome to Firehouse" to everyone who comes in the shop and they always say "Thanks for coming, have a good day" when you leave. Most of the people there at the noon lunch rush are there to scarf their food as fast as possible and bail out the door to get back to work, so it doesn't make for the most congenial atmosphere if you get my drift. I'd happened to pay attention to a couple of guys working behind the counter and one was grumbling to the other about why it was they always had to say the "Have a good day" line when people were leaving. "It's not like anyone ever acknoledges that sh!t these days anyway" says the tall black kid who's name tag read Andre. After we'd finished eating and were on our way out they very predictably called out the "Have a good day" line, at which point I stopped in the door, pointed at this kid and called back as loud as I could "No, you have a good day Andre!" Everyone in the shop payed attention and I got big ass smile out of that kid making $6/hour. My Co-workers, completely dumbfounded, asked me why I did that so I explained it to them. I had payed attention to my surroundings.
People with a sense of wit are often more attentive to their surroundings. The only difference is that they capitalize on it. It takes practice, and a patience that most people don't want to invest in, but when you are more aware of your environments - in a club, at school, in a gym at the grocery store, etc. - you seem witty. ****y & Funny flows naturally when you pay attention to conversation, attitude, physical habits, visual cues etc.
This takes practice and a constant effort to perfect, but when you have it becomes second nature - so here's a secret; you must learn to pay attention. That sounds stupidly obvious of course, but how many times have we let opportunity slip by simply because we were distracted or preoccupied with ourselves?
I'll give you a couple of funny examples here. I've trained myself over the course of about 6 years to be attentive and conscious of people and their conversations in my immediate surroundings. As a result this has made for some really fun encounters. I was in line at a local grocery store last Saturday morning and I was listening in on the conversation of the young people who were behind the checkout counter. There was a cashier who was intent on her ringing everyone up, doing her job and behind her was the assistant manager and a bagging guy. The assistant manager looked about 25 and slightly fat, the bagging guy was about 19, tall, maybe a high school athlete once and they were engaged in a conversation about men and women interacting. During the course of their conversation the guy mentioned how it was OK to call a woman cute or hot, or complimenting her on her beauty by say she was "handsome." The asst. manager (Amanda, by her name tag) took offense saying "oh yeah, good luck with calling a girl 'handsome', she'd slap your face!"
I was behind only one person in the line so I timed myself and waited for their conversation to develop a bit more. I then smiled at the cashier, made eye contact, paid for my goods and as I was getting my bag from the bag guy, I looked at Amanda, smiled and said with all the sincerity in the world, "Amanda, has anyone told you what a handsome young lady you are lately?" She instantly blushed, and had a coy look on her face. I then turned to the kid and said, "It's all in the delivery son, it's all in the delivery." He and the cashier busted up laughing at Amanda as I left, but this was all because I cared enough to pay attention.
On another occasion about 2 months ago, I was standing in line at Firehouse Subs with some co-workers. If you've ever been into Firehouse you know that they make a habit of saying "Welcome to Firehouse" to everyone who comes in the shop and they always say "Thanks for coming, have a good day" when you leave. Most of the people there at the noon lunch rush are there to scarf their food as fast as possible and bail out the door to get back to work, so it doesn't make for the most congenial atmosphere if you get my drift. I'd happened to pay attention to a couple of guys working behind the counter and one was grumbling to the other about why it was they always had to say the "Have a good day" line when people were leaving. "It's not like anyone ever acknoledges that sh!t these days anyway" says the tall black kid who's name tag read Andre. After we'd finished eating and were on our way out they very predictably called out the "Have a good day" line, at which point I stopped in the door, pointed at this kid and called back as loud as I could "No, you have a good day Andre!" Everyone in the shop payed attention and I got big ass smile out of that kid making $6/hour. My Co-workers, completely dumbfounded, asked me why I did that so I explained it to them. I had payed attention to my surroundings.
People with a sense of wit are often more attentive to their surroundings. The only difference is that they capitalize on it. It takes practice, and a patience that most people don't want to invest in, but when you are more aware of your environments - in a club, at school, in a gym at the grocery store, etc. - you seem witty. ****y & Funny flows naturally when you pay attention to conversation, attitude, physical habits, visual cues etc.