Hard and Soft People

Hard and Soft People
Pilots are generally hard people. Not hard in the sense of tough or rough-and-ready but hard in the good sense of hard numbers, by the book, empirical by nature and that sort of thing. Pilots try to create a black and white world or a binary one with ones and zeros. “Climb to and maintain Flight Level 350” means exactly 35,000 feet above mean sea level and not one foot more or less.
Hard people seem to remember numbers easier than soft people – or just have to because their line of business depends on the recall of certain numbers. When children or adults come into the cockpit before flight they comment on all the “buttons” (in their eyes, we push buttons for a living). They ask if we have to know what all those “buttons” do. We say “yes” and there are numbers associated with all the “buttons” we need to know.
Soft people don’t have all those “buttons” to memorize but can remember all your relatives, their children’s names and ages. Soft people can be innovative, independent, show initiative and change plans as often as they like. Hard pilots may have a little difficulty going there.
Soft people are extremely fun to watch and be with as they go through life. I know because I’m married to one and she’s interesting, exciting and a self described non-numeric. We’ve been married 35 years and just completed our 23rd move.
Over the years I’ve tried to explain how easy it is for me to remember numbers like our new telephone number. I dump the old telephone numbers like I try to dump the DC-10 and B-727 numbers I no longer use. Explaining to my wife how I link numbers together to make them easier to remember is like reading your insurance policy late at night in bed when disinterest and sleepiness overcomes anyone in a 15-foot radius. On the other hand my wife types faster than I can read and does difficult crossword puzzles that overwhelm me instantly.
Here’s how I tell her to remember our new telephone number. The number is 555-541-1744 (it really isn’t) and you remember the fives and 4+1 equals 5, next the 1+7 equals 8 and the 4+4 equals 8 so all you have to remember is 5 and 8. I’m 58 so that’s easy for me. Simple, right? I don’t think so. Simple for hard people and inconsequential for soft people. They’ll learn their new telephone number. It’s not a test or a race. Write it down, carry it in a book and look at it when you need it. That’s just as simple.
Another indication that you’re soft or hard with numbers was when you were in elementary school and were learning your times tables. When you came to the nines it was tough. You memorized 3 x 9 = 27, 4 x 9 = 36 etc. Well if you were gifted with a photographic memory, then that was less than a great problem. The rest of us struggled. Others like my niece Katy picked up on a mathematical relationship that goes like this. Take any single digit number times nine and the answer is simply figured out this way: subtract one from that number and that’s the first digit of the answer. Subtract the original number from ten and that’s the second digit of the answer. Hence, 3 x 9 = 27 or 8 x 9 = 72. Are you following instructions or did you already know this? Anyway if you understand this then you qualify as a hard person.
Here’s another easy test. It involves Centigrade to Farenheit conversions. Hard people take the Centigrade temperature, double it and take 10 per cent off then add 32 and “voila’” there you have it. Soft people say “30’s hot 20’s nice ten’s cold, zero’s ice.” My wife’s asleep now that I’ve read her this article. Her crossword puzzle is strewn across her lap. Does anyone know a nine letter word for half blood wizard?