On Tea and Books

I keep reading about tea. In A Country Year by Sue Hubbell, she serves tea when a friend visits her farm in the Missouri Ozarks; she probably uses some of her own honey to sweeten it. Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, drinks tea with practically every person he meets in Pakistan; it is a common courtesy. I am now reading The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith; whenever a client comes to the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Ramotswe serves tea.

I was visited by a salesman yesterday. I chose a table in the public area for us to sit, as I do not have a private office and the board room was in use. He needed a surface for laying out his documents and nothing was confidential, so it did not seem a bad place to meet. Halfway through the conversation, I suddenly thought that if we were in Pakistan or Botswana, we would be drinking tea. I felt ungracious as we sat there in stiff chairs.

I resolve to change the way I meet with my appointments.

• I will offer tea, coffee, or cocoa. We have a machine that makes beverages in an instant.
• I will chat before getting down to business.
• I will select a less public spot for meeting if possible. I will clear off my desk in the workroom if necessary.
• I will try to meet international standards of courtesy.

As several of the authors in The Book That Changed My Life say, every book changes me. I am sometimes slow to comprehend.