Today is St. Valentine’s Day. If you’re planning on cuddling up with someone special and are looking for some good love songs to listen to, you might find them here. Or if you’d like to watch a romantic movie together, you’ll find some of the best ones on this list here.
“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” Mae West
High heels look good, but are fairly dangerous, according to a study. Listen to a very short report here (link to: ScientificAmerican.com).
I wanted to share some euphemisms (in German: ‘beschönigende Umschreibungen’) with you today. But first of all, I’d like to talk about why we use them. Well, there are certain topics we often don’t like talking about, because they make us feel uncomfortable. And to avoid using these rather harsh-sounding words, we choose to use more positive and polite-sounding words.
So instead of saying that you’ve lost your job and are out of work, you can say “you’re between jobs”. Or instead of saying that your pet died, you can say it “passed away” or “went to heaven”. And instead of saying that you’re off to the toilet, you can say that you want to “spend a penny” or “go to the little girls’ or boys’ room” or “the ladies or gents”.
Although I sometimes use the term “to spend a penny”, I would recommend that you avoid using euphemisms and that you express yourself as directly and clearly as possible.
You often hear that customers are a company’s most valuable asset. So are you doing something special for your customers? And do you find companies doing something special for you as a customer?
Take a look at some of the ideas a General Manager got while working with Mark Sanborn, a well-known speaker from the States. I like them.
Yes, customers do like being pampered. I very much enjoy seeing a beautiful bunch of flowers on a receptionist’s desk or having a vegetarian dish created especially for me if there’s nothing suitable on the menu. The owner of my local grocery store is very willing to order something for me if she doesn’t have it on her shelves.
What I don’t like? Someone phoning me and asking me why I haven’t been in their shop for several years!
Window in derelict house
This is something I read recently. Instead of saying that you’ve just bought a “run-down or derelict house”, tell people you’ve bought a “handyman’s dream”. It sounds so much better, doesn’t it? 😉
