During a girls' night game night Tuesday, we played 5 SECOND RULE, a fast-paced, fast-thinking game. I noticed before most of us read the next clue: "Name 3 tools," ... "Name 3 green foods," ... "Name 3 mountain ranges," etc. that we sometimes prefaced it by saying, "You might not know these" ... "Oh, this one is easy" ... "Ooops, this one is hard" ... "You'll get this one fast," etc.
We set up an expectation to our partner ahead of the question. Perhaps the expectation was met because there was such a strong suggestion beforehand. Or perhaps an "easy" clue was challenging or a "hard" clue ended up being easy. Each person was on her own, really, to experience and handle the question how she could.
Right before the birth of my son Dante 29 years ago, I remember hearing a woman SCREAMING in the next hospital room as she was in labor. Scared the beejesus out of me! She was, unknowingly, setting up an expectation of my birth of what was to come. (Turned out I had a C-section for that 11 pound, 1 ounce little turd and hardly felt any contractions at all.)
Snippeteers, each of our experiences differ; they are usually not the same for everyone. We cannot generalize as we try to "prep" them. And it certainly is no help to scare them in the process.
Just because one person's bunionectomy hurt her like the dickens, and she warned me not to get mine, I had a fine experience as BOTH of my feet were done simultaneously. It was not that painful after, and years later, has never bothered me again.
Just because you may not like your boss, does not mean you should relay that opinion to taint your new coworker's perspective ... or to "warn" him or her. The new employee could very well have a completely different boss experience than yours. Different personalities mesh differently.
And on and on it goes as we preface other situations to people: you'll hate that restaurant ... you'll love that town ... you'll hate that cruise line ... you'll love this dish ... you'll be miserable later after a boob job.
It is not really our place to say how someone else will manage their experience. Our experiences are ours. Their experiences are theirs. Let's try not to taint theirs before they even begin.
