For God's sake, do something!

Plip!…. Plip!….Plip!” “Do Something! For God’s sake, do something!” she wailed.

- K.C. VERMA

Tired as I was after a hard day’s effort in the rough and sand traps, I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. So I ignored her.

“Are you even listening?” she asked. I ignored her again. But it is difficult to keep ignoring the little woman if she pokes you in the ribs—hard!

“What is it now?” I said irritably. “Can’t you hear the water dripping? We must do something about it.” Has anyone ever collected data on the number of instances when a wife wants to do something about something while the husband wants to do nothing about anything? This is certainly a fascinating field of research just waiting to be explored, though I suspect that the frequency distribution would be predictably skewed.

“Could it be the neighbour’s tap? It isn’t really making much noise, is it?” I asked. Everyone knows that the first step in problem solving is to blame others and/or downplay the problem.

She glared at me. I meekly asked, “So how do you expect me to fix it?”

“Well, you could call a plumber!” “In the middle of the night?” I asked incredulously. Effective problem solving requires highlighting the difficulties in solving the problem.

“Call the blighter in the morning then, but for God’s sake do something about that noise! Now!”