I really think the world would be a slightly better place if we would all try to stop exaggerating. Here's why:
I recently called to make an appointment with a doctor. I dial the number and I'm immediately answered by a quite pleasant sounding recorded voice. If I'm just calling for a regular GP visit, I should press "1", I am told. So I do.
"You are now speaking with the voice recognition system."
Well, all I can say is that either the sound that comes from air passing over my vocal cords doesn't qualify as voice, or that the pleasant sounding voice is blatantly exaggerating the sophistication of this system. Or maybe the technicians forgot to reset the language on the control panel and it's set to Croatian.
Whatever it may be, the result is that instead of an appointment with a GP in Beit Shemesh for tomorrow, I am written down for a meeting with a hair replacement specialist in Beer Sheva!
OK, so that's not quite true. But in fact, I did have to repeat a number of features of human speech quite a few times before the wretched thing finally conceded that it really couldn't understand even two syllables of my speech and called a real person to the rescue. What a pleasure to speak to a person who understood me straight away and who could wait on the line while I checked for any scheduling conflicts with the time she suggested. I dread to imagine what might have happened if I had even got to that stage...
So, what's the point of this? Why am I bothering you with these seemingly trivial frustrations?
Truth is there's so much to pull out from here: the simple pleasure of being understood, also the fact that there are clearly some things that are so uniquely human that a mechanical substitute will always disappoint.
But what struck me most was the ridiculous overstatement in the words "voice recognition"! It builds up an expectation with those words that you are going to make your appointment with unprecedented ease and speed, and then smashes it with the realisation that it's going to take even longer than ever.
You still here? Amazing! Coming to the point now.
We read in the Torah how Abraham runs out to greet some desert wanderers and insists that they stop by for some rest and refreshment. He says: "I'll fetch a piece of bread; you'll fill up and get going again". You know, nothing over the top, but it'll do the job.
Then he goes and brings them a royal feast of freshly baked bread, butter and milk, as well as freshly prepared beef. They tuck in to the banquet and he stands over them to make sure they don't want for anything.
Now as it happens they were angels and didn't really need the food. But, had they been human, they would have been basking in the delight of having their expectations vastly exceeded in such a wonderful way.
So: What about us? Do we realise that every interaction we have, perhaps between friends or spouses or between a parent and child, creates some expectation of future behaviour?
Do we realise the pure delight we can give someone by exceeding their expectation? And the pure frustration we cause when we fall short because we overstated in the first place?
Say little, do plenty! So says the Elder Shammai. Resist the natural temptation to do the opposite, and enjoy the delight you bring to your family, your customers, everyone you interact with.
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