In my first week at the office I was afraid of the phone. Every time it rang I hoped somebody else would pick it up. On the third day my boss saw me look at it and walk away. (11) She picked it up herself, said a few words, and put it down in under a minute. Then she said: that is all it ever is. I still did not like the phone, (12) I began to answer it. By the end of the month I picked it up first. (13) I understood what she had done. She showed me how small the thing really was, (14) a thing you have seen somebody do is no longer a wall.
Two people can hold the same job and do work that has almost nothing in common. (15) One clerk spends the day on documents; another in the same division spends it calming people who are angry. The title on the door says clerk for both. This matters when a young person chooses a career, (16) a title is often all he has to go on. (17), the better question is not what is the job but what is the day. Asking somebody what he actually did last Tuesday tells you more than any chart, (18) few of us think to ask it.