Humor: Up on the Roof

As my regular readers know, I appreciate humor and write with as much humor as I can (since I rarely take life too seriously (sometimes I get a little too serious too)), and I realized I have not written about yet another one of my favorite Humorous Anecdotes. Yes this has little to do with Personal Finance, however, I do use this expression in my day to day writing, so this story is supplied mostly as background for you, good reader. It also clarifies up I say an idea is Up on the Roof .

How the Story is Delivered is Important

Bill had gone on a long vacation, and had asked his brother Sam to watch his house and make sure that his cat is fed.  Just before returning home from this long awaited vacation, he decided to call his brother just to make sure everything was OK.

Sam answered his phone, and when Bill asked, “How are things there?”, his brother replied, “Your cat is dead.”.

Bill was flabbergasted, and berated his brother for being so callous as to deliver this devastating information in such an off handed way. His brother (a bit of a social misfit), was confused but apologized to his brother and then asked him, “How should I have told you this information?”.

Bill explained, “You could do this in a more gentle fashion, tell me this time, We can’t find the cat he seems to be missing. This would cause me to call back later, and then you could tell me that you have found the cat, but he was up on the roof and you were worried about him being up there. I would surely call back again, and then you could tell me that the cat tragically fell off the roof, but I would be ready for this bad news, and it would not be such a shock.”.

Sam thanked Bill for explaining how to break bad news to someone, and took it to heart.

After explaining this, Bill asked Sam, “So how is Grandma?”.

Sam said, “Grandma is up on the roof….“

So if you hear me state an idea, an investment or a concept is “Up on the roof…”, you’ll know what I mean.