04/28/25
Hold The Line
"There's absolutely no way we can do that," he counters to my demand.
It's a negotiation. Because my wife and I were called back to the hotel when we were supposed to be enjoying a night out in Maui during our honeymoon. Because the front desk receptionist botched our reservation. Because she put us in the other Warren Lee's room even though my wife repeatedly told her yes we're from California, no we're not from Los Angeles.
(I kind of understand the confusion as I can count on 3 fingers the amount of times I've met one of my nominative doppelgängers in real life. And it's always a surreal experience for both parties, as if we're starting at a multi-verse version of ourselves. But it still doesn't excuse the receptionist's obtuse overconfidence.)
And so I'm battling the Overseer regarding the appropriate amount of Almighty Hotel Points to be refunded to my account.
He pulls out his secret weapon, which if you're not expecting can make you extremely uneasy. Luckily I know the rules to this game.
...
The very idea of confrontation makes people nervous. The word "confront" itself having the connotation as if you're going to fight the other person.
It correlates less to the height of stakes and more to that deep, unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach when you find yourself in a difficult conversation or situation.
The pressure is immediate, as if some invisible spotlight has suddenly alighted upon you.
You feel like you're on a hook.
...
Other than patiently waiting for a sea chicken to take the bait, the deciding factor in fishing is how well you handle the pole (did that put your mind in a gutter?). How much to let the line go slack or when to tauten it determines if the cord snaps or the fish goes free.
In other words, tension.
It's everywhere.
The end point of a masterful boxer's jab, that split second before his fist touches its target.
The stories you read, movies you watch. Your jaw straining as the hero's ordeal becomes ratcheted up with each scene, the boredom when it's too easy for her.
Sound:
When you listen to the greatest classical masterpieces in existence. Because hearing is the same as feeling, maybe more so. There's the apocryphal story of Mozart rushing downstairs to resolve a chord on the piano, his father purposely letting it linger status pending in the air because it was the one reliable way to get his son out of bed.
Silence:
You can use it to relax, take a breath. You can also pique the curiosity, wondering what's coming next - after a rest during a musical passage or a pause at a high point of a speech.
This was his tactic after he denied my request, to let the pressure mount via quietude. Each second seemingly magnifying into a minute. The atmosphere became such that even Wolverine wouldn't have been able to cut it with his adamantium.
We both knew the first person to go first would be the first to lose. I didn't budge, as uncomfortable as it felt with our eyes frozen on each other. Don't blink, I kept thinking to myself.
Admittedly, I had some help. It was still Covid and our interaction felt ridiculous, haggling transpiring facemask to facemask. As if we were two secondhand ninjas having an argument.
I waited and let the soundlessness fill the air. Thank God he finally budged, his mask expanding as words toppled out.
Unfortunately I'm not the master negotiator my father is. For a while I prayed that this skill would somehow turn out to be genetic, hoping that I would magically inherit it one day.
So no, I didn't get what I wanted. But it was still more than I could ever have hoped for.
The next time you catch that metaphorical big one, keep this in mind:
All you gotta do is hold the line.
Cheers.
...