Hiding in Plain Sight
Depending on how long you’ve been driving, you’ve probably looked directly at it on your car’s dashboard 10,000 — or 100,000 — times . . . and never seen it (I certainly didn’t).
What exactly am I referring to?
The little arrow on the gas gauge indicating whether the car’s tank is on the right side or left side (in the graphic above, the arrow is located below the 
gas pump, and pointing left).
Go ahead — try it!
And no, you don’t have to have Alzheimer’s (or at least I don’t think so) to forget which side of your car the gas tank’s on.
On my car, it’s on the right; on my wife’s, it’s on the left.
When you shuffle cars as frequently as we do, remembering which side the gas tank is on is a lot less important than little stuff like . . . . not forgetting a kid someplace.
Edina Realty 2012 Annual Meeting
Believe it or not, I picked up the gas gauge tidbit at yesterday’s Edina Realty Annual Meeting.
Other amusing nuggets that at first (or third) blush appeared to have very little to do with real estate:
–How does a flimsy 
stool help a lion tamer keep a 600 pound (or more) lion at bay?
Answer: the four legs confuse the lion, who’s used to focusing on a single object.
–There’s a service called “SlyDial” that lets you bypass someone’s phone ring and go directly to their voicemail.
Great for leaving a quick message for someone who’s long-winded — or, for delivering bad news (but not too bad).
–The Guard Dog Warning (above).
–Ever frustrated trying to get your bread toasted exactly right?
There’s a toaster on the market with a setting actually labeled — yup — “A Bit More” (bottom graphic).
All of the above, it turns out, tied into the speaker’s main theme: learning to communicate in sound bites (so what you say actually registers), and “making things easy” for your clients.
