A Step Backward
Confidence is not always a cure-all
One thing I can’t stress enough for Gammas who wish to improve the way others perceive them is this: no more quotes!
Now, I’m not against quotes per se. Quotes can be funny, particularly among close friends. Among my friends, we have a saying that there is no Public Enemy quote that is inappropriate for any situation; for nearly 40 years we have played a little game of sorts dropping them in to business meetings, wedding speeches, and other situations without anyone noticing. So if someone tees it up in a discussion of a government contract, you might drop in “well, Jim, the reasons are several, most of them federal.”
But the humor there is an inside joke between the two or three of us, which is the exact opposite of the way most Gammas drop quotes, approximately two-thirds of which are from one specific movie. Can you name it? Of course you can!
The problem is when one mistakes a quote, however appropriate, for wittiness. While it can be, on occasion, usually it isn’t. And the worst, of course, is when literally everyone in the room sees it coming.
The artist of these things is so good at expressing personality and feeling through body language. Does she have an online gallery anywhere?
My Delta little brother does this non stop with The Office quotes. He always feels so clever. And yet he's always surprised when no one in the room gets the obscure reference and no one in the room laughs. I think he actually mistakes the occassional pity laughter as genuine. Must be why he keeps it up.