I was born at night, but not last night. I think it’s hilarious when you call a company such as Directv and you get an automated voice system that asks you questions and as you answer them they actually have a sound effect of someone working on the keyboard of a computer. do they really think they’re fooling us?
I also wonder about the uncomfortable sound of silence when you’re talking to a live person about an issue that they have to look up on their computer. In every case when there is a long period of silence that person working on the computer makes noise to pass the time or typically say “do to do to do to do…”
Let’s face it, dead air makes people nervous. Years ago I took a course to help me deal with angry people. The first step was to look deeply into a strangers eyes as long as it takes to feel comfortable doing so. I had no idea how difficult that is. No speaking, just staring. The silence was maddening and it took me a long time to finally succeed.
I think it’s especially bad when it happens to an entertainer, like a radio host or a news caster and even a comedian. Especially a comedian. in the case of the TV news caster and the radio host we can assume that there are technical difficulties. When you’re on stage doing Stand-up Comedy, there are no technical difficulties. It’s just you and an audience. If the sound system cuts out you keep on going even if you have to yell to get the job done. I know it has happened to me several times, but the silence had nothing to do with equipment failures, I just bombed. Once I bombed so bad that Al-Qaeda took credit for it.
Great pay off line Jerry. I have to say it again I do admire you stand-up comedians, relying on just your voice. At least in the old slapstick days you could rely on action, and of course expert timing.
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