Sometimes, it's important not to underestimate people's capabilities. I remember back in '67 (December I think), when I was working for ASIO, I was approached by a chap who wanted to complain because he felt he was being watched. Normally it's pretty difficult for someone to get in touch with ASIO but the guy was in the Navy so he knew what strings to pull. Now I'd never heard of him and apart from personnel records he wasn't on our files at all. I didn't want to be rude though, so I thought i'd better talk to him and see if there was anything that I could do to help. Well, turns out things were worse than I thought because the chap (who was in some distress) not only felt that he was being followed, but felt that he was being followed by the Prime Minister himself.
I have to admit that I was dabbling in a bit of armchair psychology at the time, and I suppose more than anything it was a reaction to a book i'd been reading entitled "Facing Your Fears" that caused what happened next. I told him that the best thing for him was to confront the PM the next time he saw him. Collar him, ask him why he was following him, then give him a jolly good talking to. I'm not defending my advice now, but it seemed the best thing at the time, you understand.
After hearing that, the chap seemed visibly reassured, and left my office with a spring in his step and (as the saying goes) a song in his heart. The next day, of course, the shit hit the fan but as I said at the time: how was i supposed to know he commanded a submarine?
No comments:
Post a Comment