Wednesday 3 March 2010

Surveys in the street - don't you just hate them? There you are rushing along the pavement with one hundred and one things to do. The car-parking time has nearly run out, there are still three more things to cross off your shopping list (as well as a fourth you forgot to write on there to start with) and then it happens. Out in front of you steps a polite and earnest person with a winning smile and the dreaded clipboard.

There are all sorts of techniques you can try to avoid them. You can look down intently at the pavement, so as to avoid eye contact. You can discover an urgent need to check your watch or your mobile phone. You can hail an imaginary friend enthusiastically the other side of the street, or you can simply brush them off with a declaration that you 'can't do it just now' (as if you might actually do it any other time). Spare a thought for the poor surveyor, though.

The other week found me stood on the pavement in a local town, feet freezing from the snow underfoot, biro hand turning from red to blue as the minutes wore on, imploring people to do my 'very quick' survey. It was nothing terribly taxing - just a few questions about reasons for visiting the town for a school geography project. Reactions included all those I have already mentioned, in addition to some real good humour from some and some sour rudeness from others. I wouldn't rush to do it again but at least I might be a little more sympathetic next time I meet the dreaded clipboard.

Nobody seems certain where that phrase comes from about how we should understand the other person by "walking a mile in his shoes". Some say it comes from Native Americans and started off as "walking another mile in his moccasins" I don't know. But I do know where this one came from "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" This was one of Jesus' golden rules, spoken during his famous sermon on the mount, and it's a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to how to behave.