I don’t care about you. I really, really don’t.
I have so much pressure in my life. I’m working longer hours than I’ve ever worked. People are losing their jobs throughout the western world. Who knows – maybe I’m next. I’m being asked to do more, for less. I know I will have to put my kids through college which will cost me a pretty penny.
Healthcare is getting more expensive and don’t even get me started on the increase in the price of food and utilities. Then there is the credit card bill each month, I can barely afford to pay my mortgage and the repayments on my car. Prices have gone up across the board. I don’t lead an extravagant lifestyle. I don’t own a flashy ‘European’ car or live in a show-pony suburb.
I’m worried about my kids future. I know I won’t sleep until they come home in the early hours of the morning from their friends party. I’m worried about their education and their health. I’m worried that they will never be able to afford to own their own home. That they will make the right choices when it comes to finding the love of their life.
I’m concerned about my wife with all these expectations on her to be the perfect wife, woman, mother, business owner. She is often tired. She seems to have a never-ending list of house work. Her part-time self-employed job seems to be more like a full-time job. Without the pay. She always puts herself last. The kids always come first. I can see the weariness in her eyes.
I’m worried about my marriage sometimes. We used to have so much time for each other, but now with all of these responsibilities and burdens it gets harder and harder to clear time for ourselves. When we talk it’s always about the kids or things that need to get done. We never talk enough about our hopes and our dreams. Never about what we will do together. In our future.
I am just an average husband, father, son. No one special.
You see with all of my worries and concerns some of which I’ll admit are trivial first world problems, some of which are great. I don’t have time to care one iota about what your organisation, brand, company, product or service is selling me.
I don’t care about your message which is so important to you, but meaningless to me. The junk mail you send me to get me to sign up to another credit card I don’t need. Your flyer that is packed in the free weekly newspaper that I throw away into the recycling before even opening. I don’t care about your advert on the back of the bus in front of me in my commute. I don’t care about the ‘live read’ the radio show host is doing telling me how great your product is. I don’t care about your adverts. In fact, I fast forward all of your ads because I don’t care about watching the improbable claims about hair regeneration or wealth creation. I really don’t care about the templated email that obviously just has had a computer personalise my name into it.
You are just noise in my life. Static. Here one moment. Gone the next.
I don’t care because you only ever talk about you. You never talk about me. How you can help me. How you can make my life just that little bit easier. You never tell me what you can do for me. Only ever what I can do for you.
Organisation. Brand. Company. Product. Service. You need to know that you’ll never wear me down. In fact I become even more inoculated against you every time we meet.
Do you want me to listen and respond? Demonstrate that you are listening. Show me that you care. Show me that you are useful, that you will try to solve my problems. Engage with me. My burdens. Help my life, show me how it can become just that little bit easier.
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Your turn. Which organisations, brands, companies, products or services do you think need to change and why? Start the conversation below.
(Note: This post was inspired by Darren Rowse AKA @problogger from a conference I attended last week who encouraged people to blog from the heart)
