Who is Roger ?

Our Company, Dennis Wee Group, has just relocated to Tao Payoh from Park Mall. Hence, it would appear that we would not be able to hold our usual Toastmasters' meeting at the new premises, as the meeting rooms are not fully organised yet. Our club president, Walter Lee, decided to have a joint meeting with another club. He had asked me to get speakers for the meeting.

I sms-ed him to tell him that for this month, I would not be able to help as I have to concentrate on my evaluation contest in ten days' time. He replied, "Roger, will keep u posted. Let me call them."

"Roger?"

"I hear u. I will do up the program. By the way, next week I will be going for my reservist."

"Who is Roger? Which club?"

"Roger means I got your message. Not referring to the name".

Of course, I know the meaning of roger but in that frame of mind and concentration, I had miscommunicated. If only Walter had said, "Ok", instead of "roger".! Gentlemen must remember that we ladies do not have conscription and "military language" is seldom in our minds. :-)

I remember a lady friend from a church shared how she almost did not want to marry her boyfriend. At every date, he would share military experiences and tactics with her, not realising that she was bored to death! After some counselling from the pastor, he began to change his topics of conversation.

This is why I often encourage my students to read as much as they can, so that they can be versatile in their knowledge. This will help them to hold interesting conversation with anyone they meet - whether it is a lady with an hour glass figure, an arty-farty architect, a bohemian actor or a mundane school teacher.

Gan Chau