by Jimmy Flatbush

Created on: March 15, 2011   Last Updated: March 20, 2011

Science postulates intuition is a self-preservation mechanism that has slowly developed since the evolution of man. Instinct, or what lay people commonly refer to as the sixth sense, helps us navigate through dangerous encounters and tumultuous periods of our lives. Without intuition, we would base our decisions on trial and error. Unfortunately, trial and error gives us only one chance to get it right. The wrong decision may cost us our most cherished possessions, or worse, cost us our lives.

Intuition also guides us in the nurturing of relationships. First impressions go a long way in our decision whether or not to pursue dating relationships. The popularity of speed dating events has soared because many people make up their minds about another person in the short period of eight minutes. When introduced to a close friend’s business associate, we often decide the level of affinity we have for our friend’s associate before the bartender comes over to take our drink order. We all have an innate set of criteria that instantly establishes our like or dislike of another person.

As an adolescent, I encountered the first situation where an instant unbridled loathing came over me towards another person. Childhood rivalries bring out disdain, and I did not like the new kid in the neighborhood who overwhelmed my peers with a buoyant personality and effusive energy. I despised the new kid so much that I had to take a long walk around the neighborhood in order to devise ways to undermine his newfound celebrity status. My intuition was derived more from jealousy than any perceived abhorrent character flaw. Nonetheless, I hated the new kid in the neighborhood because of a hunch.

That hunch stayed with me through my education years. Whenever I met someone in an educational milieu who immediately became the dominant topic of conversation, my intuitive radar honed in first with a skeptical eye, and then with a growing and intense animus. Intuition tells me that people who join a group, or become a new member of an organization, should tread lightly until they integrate themselves in the social order. Loud, overbearing people disrupt the fragile order. They also destroy the group dynamic in a work environment.

The hospitality industry has afforded me with innumerable opportunities to meet people for the first time. Employee turnover is one of the highest of any industry. Some restaurants churn employees so often that the only way to get to know someone is by reciting

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