Of course, the first thing that pops up for most people is either the movie with Steve Martin or their current boss.  I was blessed throughout my lifetime with pretty good bosses, although there were two notable exceptions that I will not talk about here, and I haven’t seen the movie.  Hang on, and I’ll explain.

I spent last week in Cherokee, NC, at Harrahs’s Casino watching the Ultimate Pool National Open, having been invited by one of the participants, none other than #1 son.  Son has been playing pool for years, although he has only in the last couple of years been playing competitively.  I used to be a pretty good player myself, but he’s better, and we both looked forward to good times and meeting new friends.

And by golly, we DID meet new friends!  Some of those pool players are pretty good folks, proving that a person can be competitive and still have a smile and handshake ready to go at the drop of a cue ball.  I found that it goes like this:

1.  Smile, shake hands, introduce yourself, get ready for the game.
2.  Be serious, take your shots on the table, all business here.
3.  Game over.  Win or lose, smile, say something nice about the other person’s game, go back to step one until the match is over.

That’s how most of it goes.  Sometimes after a match, phone numbers and email addresses are exchanged as well.  

Now remember that I said this was the National OPEN, which means people of all levels who pay the entrance fee can play in the tournament. It’s open to all.  Some of these players make a living playing pool.  It’s their job.  They are maybe a little better than most of the players in the Open.  Some of them are quite friendly and happy to say hello and give you a handshake and autograph.  Others are simply all business and nothing else.  Some are unfriendly, but polite.  And yes, some are jerks. There are a few non-pros who think along the same lines, too.

“Hi, I’m Bob, pleased to meet you!”  holding out hand.  
“It’s your shot,” ignoring hand, not smiling, 

I’m almost positive that away from the pool table, even the jerks are nice enough folks, but they sure take this stuff seriously.  Well, gee, Mike, remember – it’s their job.. Ayup.  Confession time. I am not good enough at anything to be a jerk because of it, yet I still manage to be a jerk on occasion.

But seriously, does your job prevent you from smiling?  Maybe you should find a different profession if it does.  Life is short.  You have to enjoy it while you can, don’t you think?

Mike

P.S. A note regarding the image above. It is AI generated. AI does not play pool, and apparently doesn’t know much about the game at all. But the people depicted seem to be having fun!