Things You Don't Hear Every Day
There are some things that you just don't hear every day. You rarely hear someone wishing for more rain than sun. No one will (or should) ever complain that the Canucks don't have a good goalie. And relating to my line of work, you (generally) don't hear people using foul language in a church.
Taking this concept to a more personal level, there are many things that I never hear said to me.
"Oh, so you've changed your hairstyle."
"You are an awesome cook!"
"Man, you're looking thin…what kind of diet are you on?"
(As an aside, at our monthly building lunch yesterday, I was sitting with a male colleague who tips the scales at a whopping 128 pounds. Gerard and I were joking that we too each weighed 130 pounds once…back in 1993 when we met!!!)
Anyway, I heard something last week that I've never ever heard in my 12,207 days (including leap years) of existence on this earth. I was at Costco picking up our Christmas family photos that we send out with our Christmas letters every year. The text on one the pictures was incorrect, as they mistakenly capitalized a letter that shouldn't have been.
After reviewing our original order (that Gail filled out), the Costco guy and I determined that it was indeed Costco's fault, so they would replace the cards free of charge. The Costco guy handed me a new order form and pen and asked me to fill out a new submission.
I looked at the Costco guy incredulously as I circled the incorrect letter on the original form. "Can't you just use this one?" I asked. "Everything else is the same aside from this one letter."
No was the answer. New order = new form.
I started to panic. I'm pretty sure my heart sped up and my hands started sweating.
There's a reason why Gail fills out every single form. My writing is atrocious, my printing not much better.
I flashbacked to the day in elementary school when I formally denounced my handwriting and moved towards printing as my written communication of choice, usually in ALL CAPS.
I remembered the times working with my good friend Richard and how he showed me that the order of all my strokes was incorrect (wrong way with the "o" and vertical before horizontal on the tall letters).
How my letters end up looking like they are coming from Clon, Clar, of Claty.
And most recently, how Sean's printing has surpassed mine in terms of quality and readability.
It got so bad that I almost called Gail (who was out elsewhere) to meet me at Costco to fill out the new form.
Instead, I sucked it up and began to write the new form. Despite the sweat forming on the pen, I was able to make it through in one try. I had the Costco guy read it back to me to confirm and then I left promising to return in 20 minutes.
After wolfing down a signature Costco hotdog, I returned to the photo department to pick up the new order. With bated breath I opened the package…and VOILA! It was perfect!
I thanked the Costco guy for his assistance and for being able to read my faulty printing.
"No problem" Costco guy answered. "Your printing is actually better than most people's."
Now that's something you don’t hear every day!
Taking this concept to a more personal level, there are many things that I never hear said to me.
"Oh, so you've changed your hairstyle."
"You are an awesome cook!"
"Man, you're looking thin…what kind of diet are you on?"
(As an aside, at our monthly building lunch yesterday, I was sitting with a male colleague who tips the scales at a whopping 128 pounds. Gerard and I were joking that we too each weighed 130 pounds once…back in 1993 when we met!!!)
Anyway, I heard something last week that I've never ever heard in my 12,207 days (including leap years) of existence on this earth. I was at Costco picking up our Christmas family photos that we send out with our Christmas letters every year. The text on one the pictures was incorrect, as they mistakenly capitalized a letter that shouldn't have been.
After reviewing our original order (that Gail filled out), the Costco guy and I determined that it was indeed Costco's fault, so they would replace the cards free of charge. The Costco guy handed me a new order form and pen and asked me to fill out a new submission.
I looked at the Costco guy incredulously as I circled the incorrect letter on the original form. "Can't you just use this one?" I asked. "Everything else is the same aside from this one letter."
No was the answer. New order = new form.
I started to panic. I'm pretty sure my heart sped up and my hands started sweating.
There's a reason why Gail fills out every single form. My writing is atrocious, my printing not much better.
I flashbacked to the day in elementary school when I formally denounced my handwriting and moved towards printing as my written communication of choice, usually in ALL CAPS.
I remembered the times working with my good friend Richard and how he showed me that the order of all my strokes was incorrect (wrong way with the "o" and vertical before horizontal on the tall letters).
How my letters end up looking like they are coming from Clon, Clar, of Claty.
And most recently, how Sean's printing has surpassed mine in terms of quality and readability.
It got so bad that I almost called Gail (who was out elsewhere) to meet me at Costco to fill out the new form.
Instead, I sucked it up and began to write the new form. Despite the sweat forming on the pen, I was able to make it through in one try. I had the Costco guy read it back to me to confirm and then I left promising to return in 20 minutes.
After wolfing down a signature Costco hotdog, I returned to the photo department to pick up the new order. With bated breath I opened the package…and VOILA! It was perfect!
I thanked the Costco guy for his assistance and for being able to read my faulty printing.
"No problem" Costco guy answered. "Your printing is actually better than most people's."
Now that's something you don’t hear every day!
posted by Clay at 2:30 PM
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