“Fuck, I should’ve said that.”
After I talk to the media, or anyone, when the stakes are high there is always something better I should have or could have said. It’s similar to when 1LT A. Lady has to edit a tweet. This phenomenon is called staircase wit or l’esprit de l’escalier, if you’re nasty.
Even as prepared I am with my bucket of responses, in retrospect, there was always something better.
I work around really smart people, my partners often tell me what they would have said and it’s usually better.
The line in the newspaper only looks better than it sounded in the post newspaper, it usually looks worse than it sounded in the New York Times.
I love me some l’esprit de l’escalier. I write down what I should have said and try to say it better next time. When people see my work and tell me what they would have said, I often tell them what I should have said, which is better than what they would have said. It’s a fun exchange.
You know how O stands for Operations? Well, P stands for Public. In our jobs the stakes are high. Everyone gets to see and comment on our work. There’s nothing you can do about it so love it.
I could have written this better.
Photo by William J Blankenship
