The New Rudest Question

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The rudest question to ask I find when you meet someone is no longer How old are you? or What is your age? People generally don’t ask that anymore in our modern society. Now I find that the rudest question to ask is What do you do?

In my last post, I wrote about meeting new people at concerts. Generally at some point (and I am sometimes guilty of this too) somebody will say something along the lines of “So…. what do you do?” Keep in mind that we’re at a concert. This is not a business meeting, or networking event.

The more I thought about it, the more I find it kind of irrelevant to the atmosphere. I start to think other things when the other person asks these questions to myself: Are they just using me for connections? , Do they want to try to figure out how much money I make? or Would a certain answer make them not want to be my friend? The question is particularly rude if the person on the receiving end was jobless, unsure of future prospects or just hate their jobs.

Why can’t we instead be talking about the bands about to go on stage, or other most memorable music moments. Why is what we do (professionally) in our lives so important?

The Power of Why

thepowerofwhyAs adults, we have grown up thinking that questioning the norm is faux-pas. As a child we go through school systems where the one that asks the most questions is usually the most annoying kid. The one with the bad grades. We have learnt to spew out the right answers for good grades without much questions. It’s the way we’re taught, to get all As in order to get into a university, get a job etc. This creates generations of people who forget how to be curious.

In Amanda Lang’s The Power Of Why she demonstrates the importance of asking questions. She uses what is called the ctrl + alt + del method of thinking without boundaries set by what we think we already know. The book has some cool examples of inventions such as the Soccket and the Saw Stop that were developed because their inventors failed to believe that it was impossible. Instead they asked “Why not?” and found out ways around it.

I was one of those people who didn’t really question much in school but I grew more curious after reading this book. It’s a good read for people who want to learn how to be more innovative or look at the world a little differently. Every once in a while, we should remember what is like to be that 3 year old kid who can’t stop asking Why?.