Ask the Right Question(s)!

During the course of any given day, I travel to many different retailers in order to service product within their store.  This is part and parcel of how I earn a living working for TNG (formerly The News Group).  A few of the companies I represent through TNG include: Nestle (Sweet Leaf Tea), Reader Link (books), Liberty (candy), Ty Babies, and many more.  To the general public's credit, it is a safe assumption to think I work for the store in which I am seen diligently working at that particular moment.  However, I always am amused by the questions people ask.  In my experience, people do not ask the correct question in search for and corresponding to the answer they are seeking.  For example, a person may ask, "Do you work here?" when the question should be, "Are you an employee of (insert name of store)?  If I am in a playful mood, I'll respond accordingly with "Yes, at present I am working 'here'!"  This usually baffles the customer, at which time I'll enlighten them with the question they should ask, "Do you work for this store?"  Aha, the right question for the answer they seek!  Most of the time, these exchanges are a pain in the backside, but unfortunately I must tolerate the agitation.  I paint this scene only to show the larger issue at-hand.  In life, people tend to not ask the right question(s), and are easily satisfied by a less than satisfactory response to their inquiry.  Often this is called clouding the issue or bait-and-switch.  The question and answer are intricately tied to one another.  I earnestly believe a person can reap so much more out of life by seeking tenaciously the answer to their curiosity by simply asking the right question(s).  Are you asking the right question(s)?  Think about the answer you seek, and shape the interrogative accordingly.

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