Interviewer interviews interviewer

Improvising with music, improvising with words…

O: So what are you really interested in?

W: People. I like people. I like to talk.

O: Talk about what?

W: I'm a generalist. Any topic. I like to shape talk. Jazz musicians improvise with music. I like to improvise with words. Play with different juxtapositions. I even feel confident that it’s something I can do. But what do YOU like to talk about?

O. Same. Everything. I do general. But sometimes I wonder if I don't focus enough.

W: The gamut is good. You become a person with broad interests. Doesn’t that make you feel good?

O: Do you have this feeling that we are actually interviewing each other on the same subject?

_________

Voice-over

Usually interviews run a Q-A-Q-A-Q-A pattern. This one is a little different. It’s closer to Q-AQ-AQ-AQ. They are interviewing each other.

Second, the questions lead to self-introspection and self-divulgence.

A third feature is that the interviewers are mutually supportive and make each feel good about themselves. This develops into a comfortable conversation. It also leads to greater self-confidence.

And on to a successful exchange.

Cycling from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego

In the Plaza de Armas, Cusco, late in the afternoon.

...

wh5: Is that your bicycle? Could I ask you why it has two chains?

Goat: The wheels are too wide for a standard crank so I had to figure a way to transfer the drive to the rear wheels.

wh5: And you’re heading for?

Goat: We started in Alaska about 3 years ago, we're hoping to reach the bottom of South America by next spring.

Wh5: You travel with friends?

Goat: There are three of us.

wh5: And do you blog about this?

Goat: Sure, you can follow the progress at ridingthespine.com.

______________
Voice-over

A crowd gathers, questions are asked in Spanish. Goat (his real name) fields them deftly. His sister arrives having just flown in. Jacob says the crowds gather whenever they stop in a town square, and the usual questions come up. You can imagine they are mostly the usual what, when, where, who, why types, even if they sometimes lack an interrogative.

If you read Goat’s bio on the website here, you can’t but help admire his independence, inventiveness, curiosity. If more of us traveled this way, tourism might not have such a dark side.

...

Psychological profiling

There have been a number of cases of mental distress occurring among company employees. Lucien has devised a questionnaire and tries it out on Gavin.

 ...

Lucien: First of all, regulations require me to ask you this question. Do you give me permission to ask questions of you? (1)

Gavin: You’re asking aren’t you?

Lucien: First question. Do you ever say “No” to any request?

Gavin: No, yes, never. All the time. (2)

Lucien: Do you ever feel that you are asked to do too much?

Gavin: All the time. I never have enough time.

Lucien: Do you ever feel hopeless or worthless?

Gavin: All the time, on occasions.

Lucien: Do you ever feel you want to kill the boss? (3)

Gavin: Am I allowed to say “No comment”?

Lucien: No.

Gavin: Never have that feeling, no. He’s an excellent boss.

­­­­­­­­______________________

Voice-over

Fragment of a 180-item questionnaire designed to find out about employees’ mental health.

Riddled with legal intrusions (1), answers that are not answers (2), questions that will not elicit a truthful answer from anyone (3).

Hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers. There are questions that may not tell you anything. Questions get the answers they deserve.

...