What Time is Breakfast?

Let me set the stage. Two couples are vacationing together. They are in the lobby of their hotel at the end of the first day of the trip. Looking ahead to the next day, they are agree that that will start by having breakfast in the hotel together. One of the spouses asks, ""What time should we meet?" After a bit of back and forth, the four agree upon 7:30 a.m. The next day arrives and one of the couples enters the hotel restaurant at 7:30. The other couple, however, is nowhere to be seen. They do not arrive until about 20 minutes later. The two couples exchange greetings and finally settle in at their table to eat.

Finally, one of the spouses of the couple that arrived at the designated time speaks up and says, "I thought we all agreed to meet at 7:30?" The other couple shrugs and says, "Yes, we all set that time but we figured since we are all on vacation, we saw 7:30 as a general benchmark rather than something that had to be followed precisely. The important thing is for all of us to relax." How the exact rest of the conversation plays out is unimportant other than to say one couple was miffed  because they viewed 7:30 a.m. as a kind of verbal contract that was to be honored. The other couple saw it in what be called a "more loose way."  

In this scene, neither couple is necessarily in the wrong. Instead, it illustrates several aspects of communication: it is so easy it is for all of us to have a misunderstanding over the most inconsequential of things; and people can both hear and acknowledge what has been said, yet still have a misunderstanding as to the message's meaning. When a message is put-forth, those on the receiving end listen through their own filters. Unless the message and how it needs to be interpreted is explained and that explanation is accepted by the receivers, then there will always be room for misunderstanding.