Most days we walk through life unaware of the conversations occurring around us. And then there are those times you overhear a conversation that stops you dead in your tracks. You have to hit rewind in your brain and ask, “Did they actually just say that?”

Ever have one of those moments? Clearly, I did recently. I was heading to a client site the other morning. I walked out of my hotel room and stumbled down the hall with my sole mission in life, at that point, being to get a second cup of coffee from the lobby. My mind was foggier than Yoda’s swamp on Dagobah.

As I passed two housekeepers who were conversing in the hallway, I heard it—the statement that shocked me more than, “Luke, I am your father.”

One housekeeper said, “Just look busy when she goes by. That’ll keep her off your ass for the rest of the morning.” Note: This is verbatim!

Despite the caffeine-deficient lack of a solid connection between my brain and my eardrum at that point, I was still able to process the enormity of this statement. “Just look busy.” Wow. I was floored.

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