Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Get off on the wrong foot

   
If you “get off on the wrong foot with someone” you get off to a bad start with them. You have a bad first impression of someone or vice versa because one or both of you are offended by the other. You are not meeting one another under the most favorable circumstances. It can also be a bad start in any situation in general.

1. Sometimes we get off on the wrong foot with someone we meet for the first time, and they may not like us because maybe we were a little rude, when in actual fact we are usually polite and friendly. We may have been in a bad mood that day or maybe they just misinterpreted our intentions. Has that ever happened to you? Don’t you just want to tell that person, “I’m really a nice guy!”

2. It’s very rare to get off on the wrong foot with someone and then to end up becoming friends. Have you ever become friends with someone you didn’t like in the beginning? It’s difficult for someone to change their perception of you and vice versa.

3. If you had a misunderstanding with someone and you want to apologize and make things right, you can go up to them and say, “You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot”. Often that’s enough to win the person over and make a new start. Humility goes a long way in resolving situations.

20 comments :

  1. I seem to have got off on the wrong foot with the new boss.That´s horrible!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lucia,
    I hope you get to "see eye to eye" with your new boss soon. Tell him (or her) that he is your favorite boss, and that might help the situation ;)


    Hi Miriam,
    I hope you find the blog useful... and I hope to see you here in the comments section too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you are a manager (of any "influence" so to say) it's essential not to get off on the wrong foot with both your directs and your bosses.

    Frank, let me give you a piece of advice from the reader's point of view. Don't make the description in white color on a bright (orange in this case) background, there is little contrast between the colors, so I have to select the description to read it less tensely. Thanks.

    Eugene

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good point Eugene...
    I guess it didn't seem so bad to me since I never have my computer screen set on bright. I always have it kind of dim... but you're absolutely right. I went for white for the sake of consistency. I chose yellow as the background because it's one of the 4 primary colors that my blog is based on. I'm waiting for the grey text to grow on me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Frank. Gray does look better there. And I'm completely agree with you on the point of monitor's brightness, it's almost at the minimum on all of the displays I use. Moreover, a couple of similar programs, redshift (http://jonls.dk/redshift/) for linux and f.lux (http://stereopsis.com/flux/) for os x/windows, help to get my eyes less strained in the evening. They decrease color temperature, making white color yellowish, thus more soft.

    What does the "grow on me" idiom mean?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Eugene,

    To grow on:
    http://natively-speaking-comics.blogspot.com/2011/07/grow-on-me.html

    Basically what I mean to say is that it's going to take some getting used to. Sometimes we don't like something at first, but with time it may grow on us.

    I'm going to take a look at the flux thing now...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Eugene,
    I downloaded and installed F.lux. Pretty cool. I wasn't convinced at first, but then when I tilted my laptop screen to the right angle it looked a whole lot better.

    It makes a huge difference for me because while I'm teaching private classes, I always have MS Word open... which I use as a "whiteboard"... I write all of my students' notes there at 36 font size and 140% page zoom. So F.lux is now going to take care of the brightness issue. I used to get headaches until I dimmed my screen all the way down. Much better now!

    Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just know the blog and I'm already enjoying a lot!
    Sorry about my poor english and I hope we don't get off on the wrong foot.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Jota,

    I'm glad you've visited my blog. Haha... if you're not happy with your English then we will get off on the RIGHT foot... because I know I can help you a little, right!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You're right Frank and thanks for impulse me to go ahead with my learning. I used to work hard all week and I would like to spend more time with language study. I promise you more visits and comments.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Roberto... your comments are "disappearing into thin air" again!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Frank, How things are going? Perhaps I figured out what my comments have vanished...It's something related with my Internet at work...So, from now on I'll comment through my house...

    For sure it's a horrible way when you get off on the wrong foot with someone or something...Create a good impression can be the key for many good things such as opportunities at work, news friends and so on...However, I guess that occasionally it's not up to you to ends up a good impression...I mean, there are so many details and a lot of misunderstandings when you meet someone at first... Yet, people usually make unfair judgments...Anyway...Maybe it's a subject for another post...

    I'm very excited about being reading your post and looking forward for the one...

    Bye for now..

    Roberto

    ReplyDelete
  13. My english is improving a lot since when i started to folow your blog! Thanks
    Raffael

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Raffael,
    It's fantastic to know that I'm making at least a small difference with your English. I have a lot more planned in the coming weeks and months... so stay with me!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Frank,
    How are you? Ana and Emma?
    I miss everyone!
    God Bless you.
    Hug

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Frank,
    How are you? Ana and Emma?
    I miss everyone!
    God Bless you.
    Hug

    ReplyDelete
  17. We're doing very well Sergio!
    Carnival was a little noisy for us, as you can imagine, because we live right next to the beach where they have all the concerts. I can't wait to get back to a normal sleeping pattern!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I got off on the wrong foot as I woke up pretty late this day.

    ReplyDelete
  19. whenever I turn on my PC as soon as I open my eyes I know that I just got off on the wrong foot, not that I'm doing something evil, it's just that isn't there more to life ?

    ReplyDelete