It reminded me of a real eye opener for me that I remember frequently. As an Army officer I always remembered the only difference between me and a Captain or Lieutenant was time and I was always saddened to see other officers treat their subordinates badly. I was asked to be on a panel for a briefing of a Four Starbwho wanted our input. I will never forget the half dozen Bird Colonels he had playing stepinfetchit for him. I asked one later “How could you do that? Isn’t that degrading to you? After 25 years in the Army?”
His answer was very revealing. Total awareness. Both sides of the coin, simultaneously. The first part was, one has to do that to get your own star. That man is my rating officer. The other part was two fold as well. I had mentioned I noticed the Four Star just raised his hand slightly and started to turn his head and he had a pencil in that hand and a pad of paper had magically appeared from his left. After the performance earlier with his coffee I was impressed. But the Colonel’s answer was “His time is so valuable I don’t want to waste even a moment” but also “the faster we are done the sooner it is over.”
Obviously, I couldn’t do it. In that environment one needs to be ruthlessly unemotional even with yourself. Some people can do that.
So when he asked “How does HE like his coffee” I knew immediately what he was driving at. It was like an accusation. Like, you know you did it because you want that job. LOL.
maybe i got it wrong i dunno.