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Simple math - or maybe it's simple common sense - tells us that not everyone knows everything. I've written before about my first encounter with The Chicken Dance at age 26. Whenever you get a group of people together, there's always going to be one person who is unfamiliar with the most basic point of knowledge.
Because of this basic "lack of all knowledge" that we all possess, I long ago decided that if I had any entrepreneurial spirit I would start up a sign proofreading service. I would be a one-man control group where businesses could run their ad campaigns or their window signs by me and get an honest take on it. This way, I could've told the CornNuts people that their ad campaign where the singers jingled "Bust a nut, bust a nut, everybody bust a nut" was more suitable for something with Ron Jeremy's image on it than it was for a snack food.
This thought was triggered last week when I drove by a car lot I once strolled through. The sales clerk was so pushy that I flat out told him to leave me alone or I would leave. He wouldn't stop with the hard sell, so I left, nearly running him down on my way out. What I didn't notice then - and couldn't help but notice now - were the post banners that all had the name of the car lot on them... with the word "REPOSSES" clearly misspelled. My consulting company would have caught this and told them that ?REPOSSESS" is the correct spelling, and don't push your customers so hard that you drive them off the lot. People who browse buy very little, but people who leave buy nothing.
Several years ago I walked into Large Banking Conglomerate and noticed that there were baseball pennants at every teller station. They were some local promotion heralding the amazing season by rookie Dodger pitcher Hidaya Nomo. Not being a huge sports fan, all I saw were an endless row of pennants with diagonal lettering with a single word written on it. I stared oddly at these things, and finally asked the teller why they had all these pennants up that said HOMO on them. She told me about the pitcher, showed me how the oddly-written H was actually an N, then laughed.
One of my favorite Chinese buffet restaurants is a clear victim of the language barrier. Under the restaurant's name, in neon, is the invitation "Eat In Order To Go". I'm guessing this was supposed to be two different thoughts, but to me, it was a clear warning for diners to hasten to the nearest toilet after their meal was finished. Another language barrier sign I used to laugh at was in the front window of a dry cleaner that stated their specialty was "Wedding Gounds".
You're waiting for the point, aren't you? The point is simple: don't advertise your stupidity or any other shortcomings. If someone offers you some advice or criticism, take it at face value. Listening to idiots is foolish, but so is NOT listening to people who know more than you do. Sometimes, you're just too close to something and you simply don't see the obvious.
Yes, I actually asked another person to read two of my screenplays, and I was INSULTED when he made a couple of "suggestions" on how to improve them. Then, I looked over my scripts, made a couple of little changes that were inspired by the critique... then did some major re-writes because I saw exactly what he was talking about, and it made perfect sense.
This sage advice works for all things in life. Listening is one of the main components for absorbing bits of life, which is where writing inspiration comes from. Sometimes it is better to use your ears than your mouth. Try it once in a while (not at the buffet place, though).
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