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Sunday 19 July 2015

GET TO THE POINT! {COMMUNICATING} / VALERIE'S GALLERY


Valerie's Gallery is a collection of thoughts, poems, stories and other writings. Some are observations of the different ways people communicate and are all based on actual encounters. They were all written by my Mother as part of her Major Work for her Degree in Communication.




Me. Communicating, clear tones, precise request,

‘One ball point pen, please’.

‘One?’ asked the girl, feeding back smartly.

‘One’, I confirmed. We were doing nicely.

‘Ordinary or twenty five center?’ she queried.

I had not been aware until now that any great choices existed in the ball point pen sphere, but I’m always game to make changes.

‘Twenty five center’, I said, really splurging.

Girl, beginning to make a move, ‘Black, Blue, Red or Green?’

I was dazzled by so many choices, it was hard to decide.

Finally I said with relief, ‘Black’.

‘Black’, said the girl.

Good feedback again.

‘Black please’, I confirmed.

She disappeared under the counter. 
Finally her voice floated up again,

‘Fine or Medium?’

Me, faint from all these decisions so early in the morning,

‘What’s the difference?’

‘The fine is fine and the medium is medium’.

‘Oh’. I said.

What else was there to say in the face of all this knowledge.

‘Well, medium please’.

She emerged in triumph, placed the pen in a paper bag 
and handed it over.

‘Thirty cents please’, she said briskly, further confounding my already hazy morning.

Written by Valerie Hazel Torning.



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