It is Important to Write Well — Just not Perfectly
A true story of taking a chance with spelling mistakes
A young man was lost in his ways. He entered a restaurant of an old couple to get help.
As he entered, the aroma was heavenly. The old couple helped him with his directions. The restaurant was empty. He chose to eat there anyway. The aroma was faithful to the food. He did full justice.
What happened next is why I remember this story [from Tinkle Comics, a children’s anthology edited by the ever memorable Uncle Pai.] I read it during my elementary or early middle school years in India.
The young man asked the older couple, “how is business?” He could immediately sense their crestfallen look. He thought for a moment, “Can I borrow a ladder?” he asked. Puzzled, the owner lent him one. The young man went outside and changed the banner name/tagline. “You misspelled what we stand for,” shared the concerned old man. “Watch the magic,” replied the young man with a quiet confidence.
And the magic happened. Passers by who ignored them before, continued to ignore them. The curious and the helpful ones came by to let them know about the mistake. Once inside, the aroma did the magic– the banner stuck and the business soared by word of mouth.
At that young age, my first reaction — I wanted my English teacher to read this story.
As I grew older, I learned something subtler from this story. Imperfect writing can lead early readers to the aroma of an exceptional product. Those simple imperfections can be endearing to those early adopters — they love the social right to brag about you growing under their tutelage. Your awesome product is their first big draw and their ability to see through inspite of the early lack of sheen.
The bigger takeaway, there is value in humility — not in how you chop your vegetables but in the way you lead early customers to the food with a grace that implicitly echoes — there are things I may not know, happy to hear your perspectives.
That is what I learned early from that story. What brought it all back? A…
