Banter or bust
How have you been?
I hope you had a great summer and are now gearing up for Pigs in Blankets season.
Over the holidays I spent some time exploring one of my biggest passions: writing. More on that in a bit.
For now, I wanted to mention a review of a book of poems I came across the other day. (Stay with me!)
Hannah Kezema, a former insurance fraud investigator, has turned her experiences into a collection of poetry and paintings that show the human experience that often gets buried under the harsh, impersonal grind of the US claims system.
‘This Conversation is being Recorded’ encapsulates the frustration we all feel when we want to be ourselves, to explain things and to be understood, only to find that automated questions and lifeless responses are too limited to allow that.
The trouble is, when we’re dealing with machines, we often have to become like them
It’s the only way to get them to work. The self-service checkout at Tesco; the ghostly silence of an Uber ride; the faceless Deliveroo drop-off. We have to kill off the part of ourselves that’s real and messy (chatting, making jokes), in order to comply with their rules.
“At least there are still humans out there!” you think. But what if they’re just following scripts too?
I recently went to my favourite secondhand bookshop and asked if they ever get any Jilly Cooper in. (An adaptation of Rivals is about to air on Disney+.) I’d heard that this shop often puts books by for people, and I had visions of the Fly Fishing by JR Hartley ad.
I could just hop onto Amazon of course, but where’s the fun in that? I wanted the shared pursuit, and the chit chat we might have about old Jilly and other great 80s bonkbusters. I suppose it was this I was aiming for, as much as the book itself.
So when the person behind the counter looked at me with a mixture of fear, confusion and panic for daring to go off script, I felt a chill wash over me. “No,” she said before zapping my books through the till.
I felt sad because she’d denied me my moment.
It reminded me of a familiar feeling (or is it just me?!) when you offer a bit of banter to a waiter or barman that goes slightly off-piste – a question, a comment, a wry observation – and you wait for a terrifying second to see whether they’ll play along.
It’s a thrill when they do, but I wish it didn’t feel so Russian roulette-y.
And then, there’s financial planning
We often talk about the value human planners add vs the online alternatives.
But it’s not just about the planner being human and offering a personalised service; it’s about the very rare opportunity that planning creates for other people to be human too.
To relax, open up, and be noticed.
To feel heard and understood.
To be real, messy and emotional.
To perhaps even share a joke or two.
These aren’t things people expect from a conversation about finance, which makes communicating this hard. However it’s important to show that working with you not only gives people a feeling of empowerment, confidence and calm, but gives them their moment too.
Shameless plug
I’ve started writing on Substack, the new blogging platform, to expand my repertoire. To start, I posted an article I wrote a few years ago about My life as a Britpop fan: 1994-1997 to coincide with the Oasis reunion and all the 90s chitchat. Take a look and see what you think.
Snack in anger
1990s nostalgia knows no bounds – sales of Frazzles have risen 48% year-on-year while those of salt and vinegar Chipsticks are up 42%.
Plates sense
According to Yelp, immersive dining is one of the fastest growing dining trends. Searches for underwater restaurants and dinner theatres have grown by 263% and 109% respectively over the last 18 months.
Sign up to my newsletter.
Thanks for signing up!
