Life is a buffet

To be quite honest, forced to choose between Jimmy Buffett and Warren Buffett, I would choose an Asian Buffet.  But that's just my choice, and even though making money as a fulltime obsession seems a little graceless to me, someone has started a fake twitter acct. under the name of "Warren Buffet" (one t) and this person has some pretty good thoughts, viz. the following list entitled "What Is Cool."

Who's up for Asian buffet?

With no preamble, "Warren" lists ten things that never lost coolness:

1 saying 'thank you'
2 apologizing when wrong
3 showing up on time
4 being nice to strangers
5 listening without interrupting
6 admitting you were wrong
7 following your dreams
8 being a mentor
9 learning and using people's names
10 holding doors open

What great ideas! Why, I would like everyone on earth to start saying "thank you" - and meaning it! And while we're at it, could the proper response revert to "You're welcome," in place of "No problem!"?

Apologizing when wrong? Just like someone who has played the national anthem twice a day for twenty years, I am in good practice in this category. You never knew anyone with such a predilection for goofing - and saying I am sorry as soon as possible. I really am.

Showing up on time? You must be kidding me. Ten minutes early is late, to me, and to see the way people blithely sashay in for appointments and what-have-you fifteen minutes after they were due just makes me wanna holla. I attribute this to the "proximate spelling" craze currently bedeviling some of our schools.

Being nice to strangers gets all the easier when we remember the times we were the stranger and wished someone could help us find a bus stop or our pants. Or both.

Listening without interrupting gets easier when we remember that we came from the factory with one mouth and two ears.

Admitting you were wrong takes place just before apologizing for it, and that should be followed by acknowledgment of how our actions hurt another, and an earnest promise to do better.

Following your dreams? I will tell you, let  John Greenleaf Whittier say it: "For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been.' "   Don't be one of those people who enters dotage wondering how it might have been had they pursued their dream.

Mentoring a young person or a new person to a group is one of the most rewarding feelings, and just like being nice to strangers, it's something you don't have to do, but you're glad when you do. And so is the mentored person.

There is no sweeter sound to a person, with the possible exception of the winner winner winner! noise at a casino, that their own name. And the person is thrilled that you take time to learn and use their handle, so you can't lose. What's more, there is no better way to get the attention of someone named Earl than to go, "Hey Earl!"

I like to hold doors open as a new way to meet new people. People are almost always appreciative, and so I hold the hardware while they come and go. And if they don't say thanks, hand them this list, with item #1 highlighted in yellow.
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Now remember, this list was not written by the real Warren Buffett. At least, as far as we know.