Really

At work, I have a tendency to overuse the word really.  But not as an adjective.  I like to overuse it as a full and complete sentence all by itself to express to someone else that they appear to be on crack and need to rethink what they just said to me.  I typically need to repeat it twice.  Once to convey WTH.  Twice to convey the additional appearance of being on crack.  Both times in the form a question accompanied by a suitably confused facial expression.  It goes something like this:

Coworker: I don't understand why my boss expects me to actually work all day.  I think I should get to waste 2 or 3 hours everyday surfing the internet and talking to my neighbors.  I don't understand why my boss is up my grill about it like it's a problem.

Me: Really?  Really?

That's the same reaction I had this morning while searching for a news story I heard about on the radio.  Apparently some chick got in trouble after letting her 14 year old daughter get a third tattoo.  Third.  First two tattoos, no problem.  Third, no dice.  So I'm searching for "tattoo kid mom arrested" to read more about it and discover I apparently don't read the news enough because she ain't the only crazy person out there.

Really?  Really?

And does it make me a judgmental hag that I looked specifically in each story for the age of the parent making the crappy decision?   And if so, does it make me a heartless wench that I'm okay with being a judgmental hag?


P.S. As an aside, I've had colleagues at work ask me how I phrase difficult conversations with difficult coworkers and this is one of the strategies I enjoy sharing.  Unless I'm dealing with someone full blown cray-cray, half the time the classic Double Really maneuver followed by awkward silence while I stare at them leads the person to begin rethinking what they said right there and next thing you know they're explaining to you why that sounds bad and then next thing you know they save you the work and just start suggesting what they could do differently next time.  Added bonus, you don't even look like the bad guy lecturing anyone because they figure it out for themselves.  So in summary, you get to sit there and be lazy without alienating anyone.  Which is, let's all say it together, a total win win.  And that's your free advice for the day on how to win friends and influence people.   Enjoy!