Hearing vs Listening

I was thinking today about the difference between hearing and listening...using your ears,vs.using your body.
I was at work, and a co-worker told me I could not possibly be doing my job correctly [and she is always wrong] because the machine I use makes a certain sound when you have coupled parts correctly,and she didn't hear that sound once. Every single thing I did tested 100%. I tried to explain to her, BEFORE the machine makes that sound, you can listen with your hands,...you will feel the connection taking place,and there's no need to run the machine until it begs for mercy....,IMHO,then you've gone too far. I shaved one full hour off a very good time for that job, when I started listening with my hands instead of my ears.

[an aside...my company is just a few minutes from my home, located in the same mountain pass, so we have trouble with radio reception.This morning I said Screw it, took the CD changer out of the truck with me when I went in, and queued up music for the whole morning. THAT might have had something to do with my speed too. You can't sit still when good tunes are being played.When I left, I left them with "Bat out of Hell" and OutKast, THAT oughta keep things moving :o)]

After trying to explain that to the co-worker
[who claims listening with your hands is not a valid response ! How the hell would she know if she never tried? ] I got to thinking about another body part we listen with.
Actually, I laughed right out loud, 'cause I thought of Steve and I, and every person on this road who has developed superior bad weather driving skills because of our poorly maintained road. We listen with our asses! It's true,if you listen with your ass you'll know when your vehicle wants to go in a different direction than you had in mind.You can start to correct before the car tries to yaw, instead of waiting for a visual cue that you're about to have an off-road experience. A cue like a telephone pole. Or a ditch.

Here's an interesting read:

http://www.cracked.com/article_16931_dickonomics-how-5-everyday-businesses-trick-you.html

Let me warn you,the author is kinda gross at times, but I have 3 kids,so I ignored it. I could have TOLD you about supermarkets re-arranging everything to keep you looking for things.That pisses me off no end. Bastids.

~"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced. The arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." -Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C.