Face To Face

Early in the evening, while sitting outside on their deck, my son and daughter-in-law often see two foxes frolicking in the woods behind their house. They have named one, “Mangy Fox” and the other, “Foxy Lady.” First impressions do make a difference.

Years ago, a young man spied my beautiful college roommate sitting at a table in a restaurant. He told his friends, “I’m going to marry that girl.” On their first date, she vomited on his shoes. He married her anyway. Twenty years later, she divorced him, because he had found a younger woman with a better digestive system.

The thing about a first impression is that you can only have it once, and it is terribly difficult to admit that your instincts are wrong. So many times first impressions are made solely on, “Wow! That person looks good to me.” However, when that person starts talking and you have to pretend to listen, you just might have been wrong.

Con men are good at first impressions. The man at the top of a pyramid scheme always looks and sounds good, but don’t shake hands with him because you’ll never get yours back.

On the other hand, while you are making a first impression about someone else, you are also creating one about yourself, and you never have a do over. When walking down 5^th Avenue in New York City, my friend, Sally tapped a woman on the shoulder and said, “Could you please tell me the time?” and the woman screamed, “You don’t touch people in New York City.” Sally never did find out what time it was, but she obviously made an impression on that woman.

Greetings are like that. When meeting someone for the first time, it’s probably not a good idea to call that person “Dude” or “Babe” unless he’s on a horse, and she has one leg over her motorcycle.

If you can’t make a good impression, you might want to make a bad one. At least you will know that you won’t be forgotten. Sometimes mangy is just as memorable as foxy.

Esther Blumenfeld (“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” Abraham Lincoln)