With that, she sat back comfortably and gazed pleasantly at me.With that, she sat back comfortably and gazed pleasantly at me. I was a bit at a loss for words, so I just looked around the room, trying not to let my nervousness show. "So, do you like our conference room?" she asked after I had begun to get quite uncomfortable with the silence. "Yes, I do," I replied, grateful for her converstaional opening. "I've been in lots of companies, but I don't think I've ever seen a conference room as elegant as this one." "Well, I want my clients to be comfortable," she replied. "I think that the proper atmosphere can really be conducive to good business relations. Don't you think so?" "Well, I guess so," I answered. "I just think this is really nice -- and I wish more businesses would take the time to do things like this." "Well, they used to do that a lot more, say 20 or 30 years ago," she replied. "But nowadays everyone's in it for the fast buck and they don't like to spend money on such niceties. That's why this country is going down the shithole so fast these days, I think." I was a bit taken aback at her use of the word "shithole," not because such language shocks me or because I think it's unladylike or anything, but because it seemed a bit out of character with the elegant, refined image she had been conveying up until then. But more than that, I was impressed with her views about American business and about the decline of the U.S.A. I share her views and I have a hard time finding people who agree with me or are even willing to discuss them. I guess most Americans can't cope with the reality that the good ol' American dream is pretty much dead -- or at least in a rather advanced, comatose state. So, her comment sparked me to start talking about my opinions, and pretty soon we were in a rather animated conversation about this topic. |