Just got off the phone with an older gentleman wanting to know where the library was. The phone conversation didn't start off well, since he replied to my little spiel with, "Well, lady, this is a guy wanting to know... blah blah blah." I was mortally offended until I realized that "Amy" and "lady" sound something alike... if you've got your hearing aid turned down. (Or if the phone connection was bad, which I think it was for a minute... it was still weird to be called "lady", though.) I tried to give him a sense of where it was in relation to other buildings on campus, but he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. (My bad for using "student lingo," such as ASB and MOA. Is it really just lingo if they print that on their maps?)
Then I made a big mistake and mentioned that we had maps of campus online. He starts whining (yes, whining) that he didn't want to look up maps online, that was why he had called. I tried to calm him down by telling him that I had mentioned it because I needed to look it up, and he then proceeded to make fun of me for "not knowing where I was." Is it my fault I'm not a spatial thinker? Then he wanted to know which parking lot was the closest one. I gritted my teeth and asked him if he had a parking pass. "I have a handicapped pass, that's why I want the closest parking lot," he replied authoritatively. I gave him an arbitrary answer (they're all about equidistant anyway) and hung up after more teasing about my uncertainty as to my location. Serves him right if he gets a parking ticket.
[Take it to the flip side]
I just got off the phone with a pleasant old man who wanted to know where the library was. He didn't seem to have much knowledge of campus, so I gave him directions as best I could. He was handicapped, poor dear, and wanted to know which parking lot would be closest. We joked for a while, and then ended the conversation.
[Conclusion]
It's true. Bad things are more interesting than good things.
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