Questions?

Why do people ask questions?

This has been a personal issue that stays with me for quite a while now. For some reasons, I get very irritable (my other half can vouch for this very well) when people ask me too many questions—and oh yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions. Can’t these people think first before opening their pie hole? And things just don’t get easier when one of my principal responsibilities is to answer questions from employees.

Today, as I drifted away during one of the usual boring teleconferences in the office, it finally hit me--the what, the why, & the ha! why our good people put forward questions.

While there might be thousand reasons out there why questions got asked—I decided that there are really 4 main reasons generally:

1) For clarification
To drive a point, to clarify ambiguities, to be educated on issues;

2) For educational reasons
To understand issues better – cause & effect;

3) To degrade the other person
To call the other person’s bluff, to make the other person look stupid, to test the other person’s knowledge;

4) To create a lasting impression on oneself
To be noticed, to be remembered;

There is a character (well, several actually) in the office that seems to irk me to no end with her inane questions. Every time when the VPs are in town & we would get a window with him, she would be the first to raise her hand.

“What would be your personal reflections & learning this past years as our organization underwent this tremendous change in culture?” she would invariably ask every time.

Like she is going to be able to immerse herself in the VP’s great learning experience and take it forward from there. Look, he is a VP, not Liz Taylor. We ain’t his fan. We don’t want to know about him losing his beauty sleep & that has aged him by 7 years these past 5 month. We want to know how have other aspects of the organization evolved as a part of the change in culture—and ultimately how it would affect us. Would we still be able spend our days idly in the office? Would so-and-so now get his punishment for MIA?

But you know…I guess it works. If you asked questions, no matter how dumb they sound, you get to be noticed. And ultimately that makes you the prime candidate for the promotion I have been eyeing for, although the whole world knows that you are a moron.

What is wrong with this world?