Multitasking is another name for busy

Having been in business (still am actually), one of the buzzwords is "multitasking". I was visiting with a friend in his office this week (to be fair, it was an unannounced visit) and the entire time he was either emailing, on his cellphone or moving papers around on his desk.

Now you must understand that we're good friends, and had we had a pre-arranged appointment I would have said to him, " hey, knucklehead, stop this fiddling and look me in the eyes!". But since I had invaded his day, I let it slide. But it does raise a thought. It's still rude to be doing stuff while someone else is in your presence, unless of course you're working together on a project. People are still more important than things, and always will be.

Of course I'm all about technology (this blog!), I have a blue tooth earpiece (my wife calls it a roach...I hate that), so it's common for me to be on a call and someone will walk up to me and start a conversation. I usually hold up a finger and then point to my ear (the new sign language). I try to finish as soon as possible so I can engage the person in front of me.

In the beginning, I was so excited about having this device that I wore it proudly everywhere I went. I almost wore it to bed one night. After a while my ear began to hurt and a friend of mine expressed to me he felt it was rude to wear it while we were having lunch. So I have begun removing it except when driving (I wear it on the opposite ear from my passenger) and I still wear it when working in my home office in order to make phone calls.

With all of that being said, let me go back to my original statement. People are still more important than things. If at all possible, look people in the eye, listen to what they are saying and respond with something intelligent instead of just multitasking your way through life.

Renaissance Dad