Another post about random story ideas that come to me from time to time – either plots, characters, or moments, usually that I find amusing. No guarantee is made that anyone else will find them interesting.
I was talking to someone recently about the difficulties you occasionally have with getting jobs done right from tradesman, or when you have problems with purchases and need repairs, etc.
Particularly vexing, we all agreed, is when you are telling people of difficulties you are having with a product or a service, and the person you are talkingto tells you that that’s impossible. As a result, you end up spending all sorts of unnecessary time trying to convince the person you are talking to of the reality of what you are dealing with before you can even get on to dealing with the problem.
Why would anyone say that what you are telling them is impossible? Really, I think that unless someone is reporting to that their difficulties are being caused by pigs that are flying outside their third floor window, that should not be your first response to someone’s report of a problem.
Anyway, that got me thinking what would it be like if there was a society or culture where nobody believed anything that you told them. At least, not the first time. Not that they automatically believed the opposite of what you say, but that they were just instantly skeptical about anything you tried to assert to anyone, regardless of how mundane it is.
“I have an appointment to see Dr. Phillips.”
“Oh yeah? Prove it?”
How would an outsider navigate a society like that? How would the Doctor or Captain Picard or Hanna Jo deal with that? I’d kind of like to see that.
Blue Towel Productions 