Dad speaking to Tuscan farmer that worked for him that was a well known communist.
Dad never held back how he felt towards others and would not hesitate to tell someone what he thought of them. As the Bible says, Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. At times this caused some to resent his “direct” approach.
Dad was especially blunt in the way he wrote and there would be no mollifying in his memos, letters or personal writing. They flew straight at you making it difficult to deflect anything he said.
Then, when he had to deal with someone who was not open with him he would quote back to the person a Roman saying that goes like this “Are you pretending or do you really believe what you are saying”. Not a few were unnerved by his forthrightness. Once during a tax audit one of the tax auditors was deeply offended because Dad refused to sign a written report that the auditor had prepared until all his typo’s and grammar had been pointed out to him and corrected in front of everyone.
And yet when he would negotiate with someone on a deal most would come out of the meeting with him agreeing with his terms saying that they were not unreasonable. They liked his terms.
No one ever complained about the way Dad had treated them. He thought things over carefully before he spoke or acted.
Dad’s forthrightness made him easy to understand and disagreements were often resolved quickly.
Dad never held back how he felt towards others and would not hesitate to tell someone what he thought of them. As the Bible says, Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. At times this caused some to resent his “direct” approach.
Dad was especially blunt in the way he wrote and there would be no mollifying in his memos, letters or personal writing. They flew straight at you making it difficult to deflect anything he told you.
Then, when he had to deal with someone who was not open with him he would quote back to the person a Roman saying that goes like this “Are you pretending or do you really believe what you are saying”. Not a few were unnerved by his forthrightness. Once during a tax audit one of the tax auditors was deeply offended because Dad refused to sign a written report that the auditor had prepared until all his typo’s and grammar had been pointed out to him and corrected in front of everyone.
And yet when he would negotiate with someone on a deal most would come out of the meeting with him agreeing with his terms saying that they were not unreasonable. They liked his terms.
No one ever complained about the way Dad had treated them. He thought things over carefully before he spoke or acted.
Dad’s forthrightness made him easy to understand and disagreements were often resolved quickly.