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> The GP said "where other parties recall a verbal conversation differently than me", and what's the benefit there? You have two differing views of a conversati
by EvanAnderson 5y ago
> The GP said "where other parties recall a verbal conversation differently than me", and what's the benefit there? You have two differing views of a conversation, you can say "oh well I meant X" and move on.
I recognize that two people may interpret a conversation differently. The ground truth of what was said has value, though.
If I know what was said I can work to tailor future my interactions with that party in an effort to prevent misunderstandings. I will certainly also try to suss-out if the other party has a pattern of apparently choosing to recollect conversations differently for their own ends (or maybe just has memory issues). It's going to color my interaction with that person. I don't "blame" them but I'm also not going to ignore information that could help me in future interactions. I'm not going to speak about it (because I think that would be in poor taste) but I'm certainly going to use that information to my benefit too.
If I find out that, though reviewing old communication, that my recollection is faulty I'm going to make things right, make amends as necessary. I'm also going to try to prevent it from happening in the future, too. I genuinely don't want to be a person who choose to recollect conversations differently for my own ends. That's impolite and not something I would ever want to do.
- stavros 5y agoHmm, that's reasonable as well, though I generally find that misunderstandings are more about "I said X and I thought it was only interpretable one way but apparently there was also another interpretation and that's what the listener got". It's not that common (at least in my group) that this is done out of malice, and I'd probably notice if someone had a pattern of "misremembering" conversations for benefit. I see your point, though I still think that deleting them is a better default, as I prefer my everyday chats to be ephemeral. Certainly I wouldn't want them lasting for years.
- EvanAnderson 5y ago> ... I generally find that misunderstandings are more about "I said X and I thought it was only interpretable one way but apparently there was also another interpretation and that's what the listener got". I relish knowing about those, too. That's a learning moment for me. > It's not that common (at least in my group) that this is done out of malice ... I don't see that in my personal interactions either. I've seen it in business interactions enough to look out for it. I've worked for and along side ethically-challenged individuals who consider agreements subject to interpretation, to their advantage, indefinitely. (An aside - Thanks for the continued interaction here. I am enjoying it, though I should get back to work. >smile<)