Wants vs. Needs Part II (sans Electric Boogaloo)

How apt that my week would bookend nicely with two posts of the same title but with two different takes on the subject.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm fighting the same battle with people here that I did while living in Vegas. See, I've noticed that as the years have gone by, more and more people tune out what they need to hear in favor of what they want to hear.

Excellent case in point occurred a few days ago.

My boss had called me in to explain some new sales tracking that we were going to be doing in the future. After that explanation was done, a jarring segue was made into my performance and the low sales numbers in terms of memberships.

I explained that I pitch the idea to everyone but many customers have remarked to me that they simply don't have the discretionary cash they once had because of the recession. As a result, non-essential items need to go.

I can understand that, yet I just make them aware of what we have to offer in case they change their mind.

Apparently, that's not good enough.

As I explained the pitfalls of the GLOBAL RECESSION and its affect on the purchasing power of the individual, my boss' face turned a deep shade of crimson, her eyes bulged and I thought at one point that she was going to cover her ears and scream "LALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

She even admitted that when I start talking, "filters come down" and she tunes out what I'm saying because anything I had to offer was an "excuse" and not a reason.

So when do reasons become valid? Is it when they're something you want to hear and until then, they're dismissed? Should we lie to people instead of telling them what they need to hear or is it not worth the time since they're not going to listen anyway?

Look, I'm fully aware that pressure is probably coming from above as well for her, but one of my pet peeves is having my feelings, intelligence and opinions cast aside. And to add insult to injury, she acted like a petulant child. At one point, I almost slipped and called her Veruca Salt.

What's funny is that it's not even on an individual level that you deal with this sort of behavior.

While reading about the town hall meetings, the blogs and the other "controversy" surrounding the health care reform proposals, one starts to realize that the need to hear what's true is easily dismissed by what people want to hear.

What people need to listen to are the facts.

What people want to hear is that stormtroopers will monitor your health and, when it becomes too expensive to heal you, they will march into your homes and turn you into Soylent Green with gestapo like tactics.

Why does no one want to listen anymore? Is it because they're mentally incapable of it? Are there not enough quality filters to drown out the louder voices that spout nonsense (which people tend to believe much more easily than the truth)? Or are we not mature enough to accept reality since we're spoon fed so much fantasy almost every waking moment of our lives?

At this point, I don't want to know why people act the way they do...I need to know!

It helps to deal with idiots even when I think I have them figured out. ;)

Ok...you've endured the soapbox lecture long enough so I can't withhold the pleasures of the Boogaloo! You've earned it!