rachel’s blog

When you’re as easily amused as I am, life never ceases to entertain.

:: Yesterday, 5:45 p.m. ::

I’m hurrying through dinner preparations so I can eat and get to my evening class on time. The phone rings. I decide to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hi, this is Stephanie calling from [She-Talked-So-Fast-Her-Words-All-Ran-Together]. Would you be…”

“I’m sorry, WHO is calling?”

“This is Stephanie from something-or-other opinion surveys. Would you…”

“Hi Stephanie! I’m in the middle of cooking dinner right now, so I’m not interested in responding to a survey. Thank you! Goodbye!” -Click.-

I was overly chipper when I turned her down, partially because it’s a lot more fun to be cheerful than annoyed, and partially because I had already wasted my time answering a survey several weeks ago, also while I was cooking dinner. When he said it would only take “a few minutes,” I was thinking of a number less than 15.

That survey was about some brand of disposable plates (or was it cups?). I told him that I had never heard of the particular new product line he was asking about, but he didn’t seem to mind. Before long he was asking me to compare this brand of plates to other disposable plates. I told him that I had no basis for an opinion, since I had never used this product.

“Well… how do you THINK it would compare?” he asked.

Wow. If I tried the product, how do I think it would compare to other brands?! That’s some great research he has going on there…

:: Today, 9:45 a.m. ::

A short conversation between two colleagues… overheard from a bathroom stall:

“Do you want me to come over to your office?”

“Sure, but I’ve gotta get a Diet Coke. I haven’t had one today.”

I guess if you’re going to be addicted to something, there are worse things than Diet Coke. But still… 9:45 a.m.?!

:: Today, 6:15 p.m. ::

My car recently began making the same terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad noise it was making before I had it fixed two months ago, so I took it in to the shop after work this evening to have a mechanic take a look at it.

The two mechanics on duty couldn’t have been any older than I am. One of the young men took my keys and pulled the car into the garage while the other one finished up with the SUV he was working on. Within 15 minutes both guys came back over to where I was waiting and the one explained that they made an adjustment to the new belt they had put in at the end of September.

And then after a pause he asked, “Are you married?”

Whoa. I was so caught off guard that all I could think to say was the boring version of the truth: “I’m not.”

The other guy gave him an incredulous look and burst out laughing… and then he swore and laughed some more. At this point the guy I had been conversing with stumbled all over himself trying to explain what he meant — that maybe he could have explained to my husband how to make further adjustments if needed. In spite of the sexism, I found the whole situation to be rather amusing.