Cone factory

If you asked me what my strengths are, among the short list I'd give you would be public speaking and my sense of humor. I've had my sense of humor while presenting come under fire. I think I've pissed more people off in the last few weeks than I have ever in my lifetime, all while trying to get people to laugh. This is definitely a case of the bad apples spoiling the bunch, but it's hitting me pretty hard. I'm obviously not trying to offend anyone, yet I've managed to do so in probably every seminar I've done this winter.

The worst example of this came to my attention today after getting a request from Zap to call him. Evidently, a guy from the Santa Monica session wrote him a 500 word email complaining about me and saying how pissed off he was at Trek. I was heckling the guy after a comment he made, which he returned in kind. Then his co-workers got involved and suddenly, he was pissed. So Zap gets the email today, which is a week after this happened. The guy has been seething about this for that long. He was telling Zap that he rode all the way there and all the way back, in the cold. Santa Monica. Southern California. Cold? Suddenly, I am the embodiment of Trek, and his whole attitude towards the company has changed because I was giving the guy a hard time. I honestly can't figure out how some people could be so easily offended.

The worst part about this is that it carries so much more weight with me than the positive comments I've gotten, and I have gotten some. I guess I expect myself to do a good job, so when someone suggests that I'm not, and they do so in an unreasonable fashion, it's frustrating on many levels. I welcome constructive criticism, but this sort of thing, I take personally.

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Ever notice how powerlines ruin otherwise very picturesque scenes that would make a nice photo? I think this electricity thing is getting out of hand.