Saying goodbye

Hi All!

.... no.. no, I am not saying goodbye..! I am talking about the difficulty of saying good bye.

As I shared with you in the last post, I was traveling on an assignment last week. I used the silence to observe what was happening around me.

This idea came to me after observing people at the airport going through the goodbye ritual at the parking place or over their mobiles. There were the quick goodbyes 'Reached airport, will call you when I get there' and then there were the long ones, where you could lay a bet on who is going to disconnect first.
This particular one happened over the free telephone in the security lounge. This good bye started with the usual, " I was happy to see you all.. ' etc.. but continued on to when the next visit would be and why and how many days is he planning to stay and which of his family members should come to greet him at the airport the next time, and what temples will be visited.. which restaurants were good.. what shopping bargains he was happy with and how well the clothes fit.... how happy he is to be able to return so soon.. and on it went, until the flight was called.

I was quite enthralled by this, well honestly.. a bit envious too perhaps. I mean, to have someone listen to this at the other end, must be very strong bonds. I was most struck by the ease in which this person was communicating all his thoughts and feelings. Kudos to him!

I must confess, that most goodbyes I hear are of the 'Ok, see you soon' variety. If the situation is formal, then people do wait and say good bye. But, not with the greatest of comfort or ease. When saying goodbye, I see that people leave with some faint murmurings of good wishes or thank yous and quietly slip away, especially when the setting becomes a bit formal. The good news is that, there is a standard format that works for good byes as well.

Step 1. Address the person by name or title
Step 2. Make eye contact
Step 3. Thank them for the invitation or convey something positive about the event. Don't forget to add the details. 'The food was great. I enjoyed the icecream!' 'The speech was very absorbing. Liked your point about public involvement'
Step4. Convey when you will see them next or tender a reciprocal invitation.
Step 5. Smile
Step 6. Walk away.

Simple huh?

See you all next week.

Thanks for the comments.. please feel free to disagree too :)

Keeps me sharp!

Gayatri