Week 15 home game entry for LJ idol
Failure to Communicate
"Hello?"
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Can you tell me where the bread isle is?"
"It is over there." As quickly as the store clerk arrived they disappear just as quickly.
I look around with a bewildered expression on my face.
***
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to find the administration office?"
"It is over that way." As I attempt to get further instructions they walk away quickly.
"Well, I guess I will just have to go over there and see what I find."
***
"Hi, can you tell me where the ladies room is?"
"Over that way."
With frustration I go in the direction the woman points hoping that what I find is really the ladies restroom and not the men's. Can you imagine the embarrassment of walking into the wrong bathroom? Let me tell you, it is not a pretty thing.
I have really come to the place now where I really do not like even asking for help. I feel as though there must be something more I can do to get it across that I need people to give me clear and concise directions.
You might think that my guide dog by my side might give a person the idea that I am asking for help because I truly need it. Unfortunately this is not the case in the real world.
When I was younger it made me mad and many a time I would cuss up a storm at people for not being willing to even take the time to give some simple directions.
As I have grown older I have taken a very different approach to not getting good directions.
Ok, the bread isle is "over there". I put the isles to my right, pick up the handle on my dogs harness, and give the forward command. I take off with purpose to ensure that I do not leave the store without my bread. Hey, a turkey sandwich is not a turkey sandwich if you do not have bread.
Each isle has something new to offer. Coffee, I need that so put my favorite flavor in the cart. Dish soap, I somehow do not thing that dish soap goes good with turkey. The alcohol isle, now here is a good place to hang out. Heck, maybe I will skip the sandwich makings for a good bottle of vodka. My stomach rumbles and I figure that I should just get going, but not before adding that vodka to my cart anyway. This isle has tampons. Um, no, definitely the wrong isle when one is looking for bread. In the fog that is my vision I turn into yet another isle.
Sniff! "Yes, I smell the bread at last." It takes longer then usual since I am doing this by myself but I am happy because I finally have my bread.
As I leave the store I am feeling accomplished because not only did I find that bread despite not being able to get help, but I also got a few other items along with the deal whether I needed them or not.
After being rudely left while trying to get directions to the administration office I take off looking on my own. On the way my guide dog performs a most excellent traffic check as we take a wrong turn through a parking lot.
In the extra twenty minutes that it takes me to get to the administration office I put together the speech I need to give the next week in my communications class of all things. I smile as I realize the irony of the whole thing.
When the woman leaves me standing there after looking for the ladies restroom I am not deterred. I am not as shy as I once was, so I go in the direction I think I need to go and find another person to ask directions. Thankfully I find a second lady that actually gives perfect directions, helping me to avoid a most embarrassing situation.
Over there is a place I do not understand and in my lifetime I will never come to understand it.
"Hello?"
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Can you tell me where the bread isle is?"
"It is over there." As quickly as the store clerk arrived they disappear just as quickly.
I look around with a bewildered expression on my face.
***
"Excuse me, can you tell me how to find the administration office?"
"It is over that way." As I attempt to get further instructions they walk away quickly.
"Well, I guess I will just have to go over there and see what I find."
***
"Hi, can you tell me where the ladies room is?"
"Over that way."
With frustration I go in the direction the woman points hoping that what I find is really the ladies restroom and not the men's. Can you imagine the embarrassment of walking into the wrong bathroom? Let me tell you, it is not a pretty thing.
I have really come to the place now where I really do not like even asking for help. I feel as though there must be something more I can do to get it across that I need people to give me clear and concise directions.
You might think that my guide dog by my side might give a person the idea that I am asking for help because I truly need it. Unfortunately this is not the case in the real world.
When I was younger it made me mad and many a time I would cuss up a storm at people for not being willing to even take the time to give some simple directions.
As I have grown older I have taken a very different approach to not getting good directions.
Ok, the bread isle is "over there". I put the isles to my right, pick up the handle on my dogs harness, and give the forward command. I take off with purpose to ensure that I do not leave the store without my bread. Hey, a turkey sandwich is not a turkey sandwich if you do not have bread.
Each isle has something new to offer. Coffee, I need that so put my favorite flavor in the cart. Dish soap, I somehow do not thing that dish soap goes good with turkey. The alcohol isle, now here is a good place to hang out. Heck, maybe I will skip the sandwich makings for a good bottle of vodka. My stomach rumbles and I figure that I should just get going, but not before adding that vodka to my cart anyway. This isle has tampons. Um, no, definitely the wrong isle when one is looking for bread. In the fog that is my vision I turn into yet another isle.
Sniff! "Yes, I smell the bread at last." It takes longer then usual since I am doing this by myself but I am happy because I finally have my bread.
As I leave the store I am feeling accomplished because not only did I find that bread despite not being able to get help, but I also got a few other items along with the deal whether I needed them or not.
After being rudely left while trying to get directions to the administration office I take off looking on my own. On the way my guide dog performs a most excellent traffic check as we take a wrong turn through a parking lot.
In the extra twenty minutes that it takes me to get to the administration office I put together the speech I need to give the next week in my communications class of all things. I smile as I realize the irony of the whole thing.
When the woman leaves me standing there after looking for the ladies restroom I am not deterred. I am not as shy as I once was, so I go in the direction I think I need to go and find another person to ask directions. Thankfully I find a second lady that actually gives perfect directions, helping me to avoid a most embarrassing situation.
Over there is a place I do not understand and in my lifetime I will never come to understand it.