{"id":5660,"date":"2025-03-26T09:04:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T09:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/?p=5660"},"modified":"2025-03-26T09:04:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T09:04:02","slug":"be-more-tactful-next-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/?p=5660","title":{"rendered":"Be More Tactful Next Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Captain called the Sergeant in.<\/h2>\n

\u201cSarge, I just got a telegram that Smith\u2019s mother died yesterday. Better go tell him and send him in to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation and lines up all the troops. \u201cListen up, men,\u201d says the Sergeant. \u201cJohnson report to Personnel to sign some papers. The rest of you men report to the Motor Pool for maintenance. Oh by the way, Smith, your mother died, report to the commander.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that day the Captain called the Sergeant into his office. \u201cHey, Sarge, that was a pretty cold way to inform Smith his mother died. Couldn\u2019t you be a bit more tactful, next time?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d answered the Sarge.<\/p>\n

A few months later, the Captain called the Sergeant in again with, \u201cSarge, I just got a telegram that James mother died. You\u2019d better go tell him and send him in to see me. This time be more tactful.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation. \u201cOk, men, fall in and listen up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody with a mother, take two steps forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot so fast, James!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An Uber is cruising down a boulevard when it runs a red light.<\/h2>\n

\u201cHey!\u201d the passenger shouts. \u201cBe careful!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d says the driver. \u201cMy brother does it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He barrels through the next red light, and the passenger screams, \u201cStop doing that!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, my brother does this all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

They approach the next light. Just when it turns green, the driver slams on the brakes. The confused passenger asks, \u201cYou just ran two red lights; why\u2019d you stop at a green?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to,\u201d says the driver.\u00a0\u201cMy brother might have been coming.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During a simulated attack, the troops have to defend themselves against an imaginary enemy, as the sergeant calls it.<\/h2>\n

Bawling out orders, he notices that one recruit shows little response.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou there,\u201d the sergeant shouts, \u201cthe imaginary enemy is advancing, and you are caught in the crossfire. Action!\u201d<\/p>\n

The recruit takes ten steps to one side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing, man?\u201d yells the sergeant, purple with fury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m taking shelter behind an imaginary hill,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0answers the recruit calmly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Captain called the Sergeant in. \u201cSarge, I just got a telegram that Smith\u2019s mother died yesterday. Better go tell him and send him in to see me.\u201d So the Sergeant calls for his morning formation and lines up all the troops. \u201cListen up, men,\u201d says the Sergeant. \u201cJohnson report to Personnel to sign some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-random-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5661,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions\/5661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buzzfeednews.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}