You've Got 8 Seconds

|CHAPTER 4|

Watch Your Words—and Your Emails

Q: (What’s) the one thing a gate agent should never say?

A: “Unfortunately.” At JetBlue, we say “As it turns out.”

—Interview with ROBIN HAYES,CEO of JetBlue (Wall Street Journal, 8/10/16)

“I don’t believe in email. I’m an old-fashioned girl. I prefer calling and hanging up.”

—CARRIE BRADSHAW (from HBO’s Sex and the City)

Avoid Jargon

“Do you want to hear about the 16 perils?” the salesperson asked me.

“Not especially,” I said. I’d initiated this phone call, with a well-known company, to get a competitive bid on home insurance. My policy was up for renewal.

But the salesperson’s approach surprised me. “Is your current policy,” he asked, “an HO-3 or an HO-5?”

I had no idea. HO-3 sounded like HO-HO-HO. ...