I must have pretty bad luck as when I asked my iPad’s helper, Siri, to help me she said “I am really sorry about this but I cannot take any requests right now. Please try again later.”

I stared slack jawed at the screen and just wondered as to what she was so busy with at that minute that she put me off. What further confounded me was I was the one who owned the iPad she was speaking from and yet she felt no loyalty to act at my behest.

The request was a simple one and I know she could have done so effortlessly but she said she was predisposed and unavailable. I marveled at how that could even be possible. Still shaking my head at the revelation that an inanimate object can refuse to do what it is programmed to do.

Started me to thinking about how often I ask people (and computers) to do things that are not there perfect tasks and that while most do not refuse how many really want to do just that.

My Aunt visited recently and it was fun to hear about things from our history. The stories that I was unaware of. My Aunt was quick to point out that she would not be helping me with the cat litter cleaning. Fair enough, really I would not have asked her to do that. She is very forthright in what she is willing to do and not to do. I like that.

Since I have to ask lots of people to do lots of things it got me to wondering if people do what I want them to do because I have asked them or because they really want to be helpful. I decided to analyze that a little bit.

For the most part if you ask someone to do something that they are very good at and it is something that they do not get paid to do, you are most likely to get an affirmative response.

I would imagine that a doctor or lawyer gets a little weary of dispensing free advice just because they happened to be in the same proximal area as the inquisitor. Since I have no one like that in my small circle I will not be making that social gaff. It is also a time constraint thing too. If what I am asking is going to seriously infringe on the other persons getting their own issues taken care of the request can be declined. People are pretty polite but they decline none the less. That is fine also.

If I were to take an unofficial survey I would bet that people could be categorized (generally) into three groups and then mixed and matched accordingly. The three sets of things that people would use to decide if they would be willing to be helpful are: who is doing the asking and the relationship to that person, how much time it will take ump and lastly how many times that person comes  asking for help without monetary remunerations.

Being VI it is still hard to ask for help and to find a nice balance between how many times to ask and who I can ask for a bigger than usual project. Of course I have no problem paying people when they help me consistently. I once had a very kind friend from church tell me that to deny them the opportunity to help us during a difficult time we were going through denies them the chance to be a blessing to us. Still….. It is hard to ask and to know when you are being a pest. The last thing I want to do is to keep asking and have the person grumble about me behind my back as they might not want to tell me to my face that they are unable or unwilling to help.

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to agreeing to do a project I have asked for help whit.

I have overcome lots of obstacles but something’s are elusive and just out of my grasp and for that I need to use your eyeballs in place of mine, temporarily.

As for Siri, I gave her a little time to get done what had kept her so busy earlier and then made my request a second time.  This time she complied and I could sense no resentment for my having to ask again.

Sometimes we have to ask twice, sometimes people say no to a request. We all learn through the process.

Blessings, Denise

From the writer of seeingdifferences.com