Wouldn't It Be Funny...?...

Wouldn't it be funny if everyone just said the first thing that popped into their heads? If everyone just told exactly what they were thinking during every circumstance? I think it would have it's crazy funnny moments but also some really bad ones.

For example, recently Engineer guy, Mechanic guy and myself were working on a project together. It was hard and Engineer guy kept getting in the way. It was obvious to me and Mechanic guy the he was pretty much a "book-smart" Engineer and had never done much 'hands-on' stuff. He was downright gawky with tools. Worse when it came to working as a team. He constantly walked into me and kept excusing himself for it.

There were several times when he would interfere with our progress and Mechanic guy would stand behind him with a really pissed look on his face, rolling his eyes. I started smiling, thinking about what his thoughts were. Once he even got behind Engineer guy and pretended to attack him with a screwdriver. Can you tell he was getting frustrated?

If we were a society that just said whatever they thought I would have had many one-liners too. I remember thinking "Where did you get your degree, The Larry, Moe & Curly School of Engineering"? I also kept thinking "Would you please just get out of the way so we can do this right"?

Then came the coup de grace. We were finishing up (after a one hour job became 3 hours) and Engineer guy was reinstalling a large sight glass. It was crooked when I noticed it. I started saying "Hey, that thing isn't in right...." when he tightened the first 2 bolts. I quickly stepped back as the glass exploded in a million tiny little shards. Glass everywhere. Like raining glass particles. I just stood and looked at him. He stood there and his shoulders visably slumped as he stared. Mechanic guy threw up his hands and walked away. In my mind I was thinking "Damn, you really are one of the Stooges reincarnated." Of course I didn't say that.

The point is, I wonder what would happen if we could have said whatever we thought? That project would have been completed much faster and without serious breakage. (That glass is on order and has delayed getting the machine back into service for over a week now.) But I think Engineer guy wouldn't have liked to hear what we were thinking. I like the guy well enough but he definitely needs to stay behind his desk.

It would be a different world if we could just be totally honest all the time. I'm not really sure it would be a better place though.