(Un)common Knowledge
In elementary class, everyone had to present on their favorite planet. Each kid took their turn, and as you guessed it, Jupiter or Mars was their favorite. You’ll get the occasional Pluto or Neptune, but 90 percent chose Jupiter or Mars. When it was my turn, I was shocked at how each kid knew so many different planets.
I just immigrated to America and didn’t have an understanding of planets. I said, I didn’t know and the whole class went, “You don’t even know one?”. It sucked to be that one kid that didn’t have common knowledge, but as I got older, I’ve come to learn that a lot of common knowledge isn’t common. But it’s a chance to teach and learn more.
The shame of it
Nothing is like being the only person who doesn’t know something that everyone else knows. I’ve watched adults and kids alike make fun of others for not having common knowledge. Sometimes it’s the most insignificant fact that is propagated into something essential.
It’s even worse when the person making fun of others has no way to prove it, they’re only repeating it from what they heard from others. I’ve had coworkers act arrogantly when their older staff couldn’t convert a Word document to a pdf, or how to use specific formulas to become more efficient in Excel.
This coworker would berate others for being so slow and not putting in extra work to get to his level. We found out that he got lucky and received past templates from the previous person. Another coworker made copies of it and deleted his files from his computer to see him suffer through it. Suffer he did, but the more important part was we wasted so much time being assholes to each other when we couldn’t do much better things.
The older staff was still stuck in a position where they didn’t get any better. But the shame they felt from this whole experience made them not become any more proactive in getting better.
We get so engrossed in what we know that we forget that others know stuff that we don’t as well. I remember in high school, kids would make fun of the Chinese exchange student for not being able to pronounce simple words, but he could speak 3–4 different languages.
We don’t consider that someone is trying and that shaming them into something that they don’t care about or know yet just to serve our ego isn’t helping anyone but ourselves.
What if they’re on the path to learning it and you just made it more difficult to do so? Why not take the initiative to be the person to teach it to them? Perhaps you’ll learn how to teach a beginner and make a relationship along the way.
Forgetting what it was like
It’s always easy to forget how difficult things were when we first started, especially as we get good at things. As much as you remind yourself to, we all fall into this trap.
You see this often with people who get promoted to the managerial level. They spend time too much on paperwork and administrative duties that they don’t remember what it was like working at the front lines. The policies are implemented without much input from the people actually doing it. Thus starts the circle of complaining — front-line workers complain about management that doesn’t care and management complains about workers not hitting quotas or efficiency marks.
I believe it’s important to go back to the trenches to understand the dynamics, workflow, and difficulty of someone working at the front line. Then perhaps, you can bring actual useful information back to the management and provide the proper resources back to the team.
I had an old boss that enforced a 30-second rule on cleaning up tables at the restaurant. He told us it shouldn’t take longer than 30 seconds because we don't want our guests waiting for too long and to make sure the seats are filled. He then showed us how to properly clean and empty the tables so they would be ready for the next group. He timed himself and was particularly proud when the timer stopped at 26 seconds.
What he failed to understand was that this wasn’t rush hour when the restaurant wasn’t packed and that the table he cleaned up was relatively clean to start with. What happens if it’s a big messy group, or if there is shortage of staff for the day?
We worked with his methods and it was chaos. Frustrated employees and a longer wait time undoubtedly followed. Safe to say, it didn’t work. The worst part was how he didn’t help when it was a rushed hour. He simply stayed on his computer crunching the numbers.
A lot of people quit when we couldn’t convince him to help us out and the unrealistic demands he had.
He used to be a waiter but got too comfortable in the manager role to see what was working or not.
It’s important to do the hard work to remind yourself that what got you there wasn’t easy. It doesn’t change as you move roles. The landscape continues to change and you need to suit up more often than not to see the changes.
The chance to teach
Not everyone knows what you know so if there’s ever an opportunity to teach someone, take it.
Only someone with a tremendous ego or a lazy person will defer the opportunity. If you think you’re too good to teach, you’re wrong or that you don’t know enough to teach.
Either way, you’re not helping anyone out and you’re not fostering any relationships.
I see opportunities to teach or learn as a way to bridge the gap (both knowledge and personal) between people. Just make sure you’re approaching it through curiosity not to just prove a point or any malicious means.
You don’t want to be that person that only helps when it’s convenient for them.
I had a friend who lived by the principle of helping others to learn about them. He explained that it’s such an easy to make connections and understand who the other person is.
He went on to tell about a time when he helped a bunch of foreign exchange students with an English essay. The work wasn’t hard for him but fast-forward down a few years when he was in Asia, the same group of students contacted him and showed him around. They gave him the true experience of locals and taught him the language. It was a full-circle moment.
People are curious to learn but not as eager to let others know. If we could take the initiative to help them out, we can connect a lot of bridges. Different cultures don’t go out of their way to get help and some don’t even show appreciation. Regardless, do it to help people out, not to get a reward out of it.
I remember meeting my Japanese friend’s family for the first time and making the mistake of not following customs. They let it go, but I felt truly ashamed to not respect them in their home. I asked my friend why he didn’t tell me, and he said it was because he didn’t want to make me feel awkward with the traditions.
It was my fault for not communicating what was important when visiting another person’s home.
If we can turn uncommon knowledge into known knowledge, imagine the harmony and friendships we can build and foster.
It starts with us and our acceptance of others. We get a chance to learn every day, and we must not squander it.
*Check out my last article on life is great*
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