Not Quite

In my Fundamentals of Mediation and Negotiation class, we spend lots of time doing practice mediations with each other. The disputants have prewritten stories that they read and then interpret, and the third party practices being the mediator.

The practice mediation we were doing on Tuesday was about some cowboys and an issue with a horse not being in a designated pasture.

One of the girls practicing in my group was explaining how she (as the cowboy) was unable to find other horses to keep so that she could pay her bills after the other cowboy removed her horse from the premises (just go with it).

The cowboy/girl then explained:

"There were no other horses that needed to be pasteurized."

Definitely not what she meant. It was all I could do to hold it together and not laugh and disrupt the whole process. Clearly, that was difficult for me, as I am ME, and I have a hard time not laughing. But I kept a straight face. 

Then I ran to tell my parents how funny it was.

On a somewhat related note, although the practice mediation sounds crazy, it was actually one that had happened to our instructor in his practice as a mediator. Who would've thought?

One of the elements of the mediation process is that there is confidentiality, and that the mediator could never be called as a witness if the disputants were unable to resolve the issue in mediation and ended up in court.

So, after our instructor told us that he had actually mediated with these two foul-mouthed cowboys, one of the students asked what the resolution had been. The instructor's answer?

"No idea. I can't remember...that's really why they can't call me as a witness!"

It was funny at the time, but typing it all out, I'm starting to wonder if my humor standard has been lowered by being with less-than-funny people in less-than-funny situations for 13 hours a day and not getting enough sleep.

Apparently, I'm sleep deprived, but not quite to the point of having delirious giggles.

I'll let you know when I get there.