Be Careful What You Ass-sume

This morning I was in my fuchsia leopard bathrobe while accompanying my mini dachshund on her morning constitution. My dog is fearless at 16 years young, she doesn’t hesitate to voice her opinions to anyone approaching our yard. I saw an early morning walker approaching and because it was so early I turned Zoe around so she wouldn’t see the walker and start her typical LOUD warning.

The very pleasant walker called out, “I caught you”. She assumed I didn’t want her to see me in my robe. I laughed and told her, I was hoping that my dog wouldn’t bark. She laughed and told me to have a good morning. Of course, her comments were supported by Zoe’s back up vocals. Unfortunately my neighbors had to hear that too.

This is a fairly benign example of an incorrect assumption. But what if it was something more serious? What if I didn’t have the chance to explain?

In my work in Human Resources Consulting, I’m constantly reminding Managers to deal with the facts not their assumptions. It’s really important to do so in all facets of life. We’re trained to judge things on our experience but that can cause over thinking, which leads to ass-sumptions. Do yourself and your friends a favor and deal with each circumstance individually. Remember what happens when you “ass-ume”.