Man without ears ...

"What do you call a man without ears?" asked MGN, our likeable colleague, who has set questions for numerous motor treasure hunts.
"Earless…dumb…no-ear man..," I replied but he just smiled, each time.
And when I finally gave up, he coolly said:
"Well, you can call him anything…he won’t hear you".
Ha, ha, ha, and I thought it was funny.
On a serious note, it’s no laughing matter if you have ears but do not hear. Better still, not just hear but listen.
From all these years in this profession, I’ve learnt pretty well the importance of listening.

In his book Organizational Behavior, Stephen P.Robbins said: “Too many people take listening skills for granted. They confuse hearing with listening”.
What’s the difference?
Hearing is merely picking up sound vibrations. Listening is making sense out of what we hear.
In other words, listening requires paying attention, interpreting and remembering sound stimuli.
My mind flashes back to school-days and recalled the favourite phrase from teachers:
"Are you all listening?"