Pineapple Slice 9 — Where Understanding Begins
Some weeks explain something.
This one connects something.
Pineapple Slice 9 gently moves from work to family, from history to darkness, from humour to deep listening — and shows how all of it is tied together by one simple question: how do we really understand people?
It begins with work, but not in the way you might expect.
Selling Is About People, Not Products — Ralf the Grillmeister
Ralf takes us back to his early sales years and quietly challenges everything we think sales is about. Through long customer relationships, mistakes, honesty, and many cups of coffee, he shows that selling only works when it is human. Trust matters more than price lists. Listening matters more than talking. And respect lasts longer than any product. By the time you finish reading, sales no longer feels like a profession — it feels like a relationship.
Ralf’s story leaves us with a simple but powerful idea: real connection matters more than technique. And once we see work this way, it becomes impossible not to look at the rest of life through the same human lens.
Atlantic Corridor: Ordinary People, Heavy Love — Ismar & Ritesh (with the Mayor)
That human lens widens in the Atlantic Corridor, where the focus shifts from professional relationships to family responsibility and care. Ismar speaks honestly about looking after his elderly mother and the loneliness that can come with doing the right thing alone. Ritesh adds cultural perspective from India, where care is often shown through presence rather than words. Together, they explore silence, duty, dignity, and the emotional weight carried by ordinary people every day.
From personal responsibility, the Pineapple then zooms out to a bigger stage, reminding us that individual lives are always shaped by history, culture, and decisions made long before we were born.
History’s Little Plot Twists — The Mayor
The Mayor walks us through one December week in history, linking writers, rebels, scientists, and artists who quietly changed the world. From Jane Austen to the Wright brothers, from protest to reconciliation, this piece reminds us that progress is never straight and culture is never fixed. It asks us to notice how much of who we are comes from moments we didn’t choose — and what responsibility that gives us today.
After travelling through time and history, the week returns to the present moment — but with the lights turned off.
Dining Without Sight — Sylvie
Sylvie describes an evening in a restaurant where sight disappears completely. In total darkness, food becomes secondary and trust becomes essential. Touch replaces vision. Slowness replaces control. The experience reveals how much we depend on seeing — and how much deeper connection can go when we can’t. This article isn’t really about dining; it’s about vulnerability and learning to feel safe without certainty.
Once our usual ways of seeing are removed, it feels natural to ask bigger questions — and sometimes the best place for those questions is a table filled with laughter.
A Duck, a Crown, and Big Human Questions — Lunch with Janita & Frank
This Lunch conversation begins playfully — with a duck, a crown, and humour — but slowly opens into reflections on power, humility, fitness, leadership, and what ordinary people teach us. Stories of parents, monks, football, and quiet wisdom show that meaning often arrives when nobody is trying to be impressive. It reminds us that seriousness and play don’t cancel each other — they need each other.
That same mix of humour and honesty continues where the Pineapple often feels most at home: the kitchen table.
Peeling Potatoes #30: Christmas Was Cancelled (Apparently) — Fruitloop & The Mayor
In this episode, Christmas is “cancelled,” Mrs Claus is hired, family chaos appears, and laughter carries the weight of a long year. Beneath the jokes, the conversation touches exhaustion, hope, care, and gratitude. It feels messy, familiar, and deeply human — a reminder that connection doesn’t require perfection, only presence.
After all these conversations, one question quietly remains: how do we actually understand each other better?
Building Bridges: The Art of Understanding People — Sarah
Sarah answers this question with honesty and clarity. She reflects on empathy, distraction, cultural differences, and emotional intelligence from a teenager’s perspective that feels surprisingly wise. She speaks about listening, misunderstanding, speaking too fast, learning from criticism, and feeling “not crazy” when someone truly understands you. This piece gently ties the whole week together: understanding is not a skill you finish learning — it’s a habit you practise.
Together, these stories create a shared space in the Brida Community – where listening matters, curiosity is welcome, and being human is enough.
If you felt like this week was speaking to you rather than at you, you’re not imagining it.
That’s the Pineapple effect. 🍍
