I have a friend who has found out she has breast cancer, and is being a trooper about it. When my wife told me our friend was diagnosed I thought to myself, what if anything should I say to her the next time I spoke with her. Well that opportunity came sooner than I could think and this is how the conversation went:
Friend: Hey Dave, how are you?
Me: Helluva lot better than you!
Eesh, talk about opening mouth and inserting foot. I have never been good about speaking on the fly. If I give a presentation I have to look at it first and then I can go ahead, but clever things never seem to come to me right away. In school I was never the one to come back with the snappy come back. it was usually something to the effect of "F you" or "Bite me". It is always a good thing to be able to say something clever, cute, the right thing, or some what right thing. Here is another situation. An acquaintance tells me that his brother is in jail. My reaction, "Sucks to be him. Hope he doesn't end up someone's bitch."
So what do you do if you have my affliction? I am a funny guy, I think at least, and if you give me a few moments I can come up with the snappy come back or a more sensitive thing to say, but off the cuff, watch out. Who knows what is bound to come out of my mouth.
The upshot is you didn't treat said friend any differently than you would have before hearing the news. She wouldn't continue to be your friend if she didn't adore the hilarious foot-in-mouth syndrome.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, you're far from the only one who does it. I find HP sauce goes particularly well with five toes.