Last week at the IMAX presentation I overheard this conversation.
Usher - "Should I close the exit doors."
Manager - "That's affirmative! It's showtime!"
The usher rolled her eyes.
Here's my question (for any of you to take a shot at answering). Why do we, as a society, tend to laugh at those who take their jobs especially seriously? The affirmative, showtime quote reminded me of something you would hear from a Jim Carey character and not an actual person. But I did hear it, and she wasn't joking.
Does that strike you as funny? If your answer is affirmative, why?
Showtime...
12 comments:
John, as you know, responds with those kinds of answers all the time (at work AND at home). But then, he IS a Jim Carey character. I think people like him make everything fun, even work. I think people who roll their eyes a lot are the ones who are taking things too seriously. It sounded to me like the manager was having fun doing his job. I love it when people who have "people jobs" have a personality.
Oops. I meant to say the manager was having fun doing HER job.
there was no kidding in her response. this was all business.
First, I like the question you have raised. It has prompted me to think on the varied responses I might have. I think I could be one who on occasion, would roll their eyes. I might roll my eyes if I thought myself superior to my boss, and thought little of my boss. I might, as a listener, laugh on a given day, due to nervousness, chagrin, or good, ole fashioned conviction of the truth; the truth of the love of work-its efficacy.
I've got a question for you-
How is what the manager said to the usher like something Jesus said to the disciples?
Better yet, can you think of a particular passage/instance where Jesus zeal was disarming to them?
It did strike me as funny and I rolled my eyes. My thought is that it was not because the manager was taking her job seriously (I have little patience with those who don't), but rather that she was using the language of professions a little higher up the authority food chain than movie theater managers. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) I associate phrases such as "affirmative", "10-4", "roger that", "over and out" with pilots, astronauts, police officers and the military. When someone like a theater manager (or a school teacher) uses them, it hits me as funny...and a little sad. It's a nerdy, Jim Carey thing to do.
10-4, Over and out.
i think i was wrong to say she was taking her job too seriously. i now think she was taking herself too seriously.
it reminds me of an umpire i couldn't stand when i coached softball. he would say 'oosh' instead of out and 'foul boo' instead of foul ball. it was all about him drawing attention to himself.
maybe the imax worker didn't want extra attention, but wouldn't you have to be kind of unaware as a person if you didn't think you might have eyes rolled at you for saying 'showtime' and 'that's affirmative?'
wallace, i think i almost give your true identity away everytime i address you.
i guess the comment could be similar to some of the passages in john 13-16, but that points to the point i'm making about the manager taking herself a little too seriously. are her comments a little over the top for a question about closing a door?
Danny, probably so I think the manager was probably over the top- but I used to work with a guy that loved needling young people by doing a schtick like jim carey I guess...all of us would roll our eyes at his "roger that", and "10-4 good buddy", but the older I got, the more i liked this guy's nerdiness; come to think of it, I think I'm a nerd, and it doesn't bother me to admit it-which is refreshing in itself.
Some of the people I love the most are nerds, granolas and goof-balls -- and even people who occasionally take themselves a little too seriously. Eye-rolling is a condescending response to someone who is a bit over the top (dramatic). It's a way of dismissing someone (a behavior I find highly offensive). Maybe the choice of words was nerdy, but I still think this is someone who is enjoying (or trying to enjoy) their job -- not kidding around, but doing her job enthusiastically. Not everybody gets to be a pilot or astronaut. What's wrong with someone making the most of the job they have, even if it's just closing the movie theater door and starting the show? Why is that so annoying? We all have personalities (endearing and annoying traits). Eye-rolling is annoying in ANY context. Not that I have never done it. But I would still rather encounter someone with a little "over the top" personality than someone who is condescending and dismissive of other people. Eye-rolling tends to convey an attitude of superiority -- most common in teenagers. Like I said, give me the nerdy goof-ball any day.
well said Shari. I think the disturbing part for me is knowing I am an eye-roller AND that repenting of it is difficult. I can justify my behavior til the cows come home; you have helped me see I cannot control what others do whether with or without zeal-but I do have a choice in how I respond to them.
Thanks for that comment, Wallace. I was afraid I might have been a little over the top myself with that response. But I have watched so many people be dismissed because they don't fit a certain mold. I feel bad for people who get that reaction all the time. If I had been there, the truth is that I might have rolled my eyes, too. I think I probably would have grinned. But I've found that many times the people who have the strongest need to feel important or draw attention to themselves in an appropriate way are often the most insecure and in need of a pat on the back.
I don't need to feel important or draw attention to myself in most situations, but I do seek affirmation and if you pat my head, I'll wag my tail and get your paper. LOL.
I don't know you anymore. Love Dad:-)
I hope you weren't rolling your eyes as you typed that. : )
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