When the great John Madden retired earlier this year, there were numerous positive comments uttered about his personality, his accomplishments and his abilities. Some folks praised his video game, some admired the way he could simplify an NFL game for the casual viewer, some strictly praised him for his success as head coach, and others just said he was a great guy. But there was one compliment in particular that stuck with me, and that comment was uttered by my main man Tony Kornheiser who said, "Madden always knew the temperature of the room and acted accordingly." What does that mean?

It means that Madden always knew how to find the balance between being gregarious and understated. It means that he could talk football with the best of them, but he could also talk about world issues and politics if the situation called for it. People like this always know the right thing to say, they know how to act, and they are usually well liked but more importantly well respected. At one time I aspired to be like this at work, at home and all around. And then I got a blog, and realized that it feels much better to antagonize and manipulate the variables some times. Hopefully maturity will win out sooner rather than later, and I will get back to striving towards claiming Madden's title as "top temperature in the room guy". But that's not why I bring this issue to light.

This morning while I was walking into work, I saw one of my former co-workers in front of me. First let me back up and set the scene. Its raining outside, everyone is carrying umbrellas and walking fast and I am no exception. I also have my headphones on, so everything about me is saying, I am moving fast, I don't want to be bothered, and I GOTS to get to work. So when I see this former co-worker, I am hoping to avoid her altogether, but she turns around and sees me, and waves.

Now given the scene I have laid out (rain, umbrellas, headphones no my head) you'd think that this woman would take the temperature of the situation, and be satisfied with the wave we shared, so we both can get to work and out of the rain. But no, no, no that is not what happens. This woman reaches out touches my arm, and starts speaking to me, but since I have headphones on, I cannot hear her. So then I have to readjust my bag so i can get my headphones off, and in the process I jerk the headphones out of my ear accidentally and they fall on the ground. While I am reaching down to get the damn headphones, I drop my umbrella, and I get all wet trying to get it back up. When I bend down to pick up the damn umbrella, my ipod falls down, and now I'm angry and flustered. Meanwhile, this dumb ass woman does not offer to help me pick up anything she just keeps talking about what's going on in my former office as if nothing happened. When I finally stood back up with all my fallen things in tow, she goes back to touching my arm and talking. I touch her arm right back the following exchange goes down

Me: I mean no disrespect, but I just lost all my sh*t, and I just want to go to work, we can email each other later
Her: Ok...well..Rashad I was in the middle of a story
Me: Again, its raining, I just dropped all my things, let me just go and talk to you later
Her: Ok Rashad, have a good day, I see you still haven't learned how to talk to people
Me: F**k you (in my head only) Oh yeah I'm real friendly via email (what I actually said)

Now she said something after my last sentence, but at that point I had already turned around and I was already stepping with purpose towards my office. I realize I was abrupt and maybe a bit rude, but oh well. I blame her for not quickly assessing the total situation, and sticking with a minimalist type greeting, so we could both get out of the damn rain. And then I blame her again for not offering to help. This is a long ass blog entry to explain the importance of room temperature taking..oh and she can keep waiting for that email, because it ain't coming.