- Women with Harrod's shopping bags. You are walking down Pitt st, not Piccadilly.- When people finish a statement with "no?" This is very annoying, no?
- Elevator small-talk. Yes it's cold. Yes it's Monday. Must I discuss this with you, Stranger?
- When you ask people 'how are you?' and they answer 'tired'. At least give me a bit of preamble first.
- Aldi checkout people. It's not a race. Stop sliding my stuff off the end of the counter.
14 comments:
I completely concur with #6 re Aldi. I feel like sometimes they take enjoyment in watching me struggle!
Are we grumpy this morning? :)
Hehe. Try doing the Aldi thing when 8.5 months pregnant and with a toddler in tow (maybe your wife has experienced this)
What a workout!
Hahahah! You're a funny man Ben. My new favourite segment on Vanishing Point.
I don't sympathise with your number 4. You did ask, after all!
Yeah ... though as an ESL teacher, I'd point out that the "no" thing is how life usually goes in Spanish-speaking countries ... though if they haven't got that excuse, it's ridiculous. Possibly other non-native speakers pick it up from their Spanish-speaking friends without realizing it's not standard ...
Lol....i always answer tired!! I agree with you about Aldi's though. Usually if a person tries small talk with me I just give them the look, then they stop....
Christine- oh they love it. They enjoy seeing us flounder, while they sit on their swivel stool of power.
Amy- No, I am just seeing things more clearly. The scales are lifting from my eyes.
Julie- I'll take your word for it. Sounds exceedingly strenuous.
Josh- thanks for fanning the flames of disgruntledness.
Wendy- Now, I have a lot to see about this, though it's hard to find the words. A conversation is like an onion. It should work in layers, and slowly progress, peeling off one by one. If you are tired, this is information that ought not be revealed until at least the fourth layer. Like so-
-How are you?
-Aw, not too bad, not too bad..
-Just not too bad?
-Yeah, I'm a bit tired actually
-Oh that's no good.
Leaping in straight away with 'tired' usually means you are not going to get a 'and how are YOU' in return. Instead you are going to get into an unwanted 5 minute conversation about tiredness.
Which makes me tired.
It's like when you are at the butcher to buy a bit of devon, and you politely say 'how are you' as you greet the butcher, you are not expecting' well now that you ask, my heamoroids are killing me'.
A conversation must unravel slowly. Abruptly jumping into such specifics is a right reserved only for the closest of close aquaintances. If my wife jumps straight to 'tired', well no worries. If Johnny in the elevator does, well, this is frankly against The Rules.
KIM- thanks for stopping by my blog:)
'Possibly other non-native speakers pick it up from their Spanish-speaking friends without realizing it's not standard ...'
Nah, you are being too kind. I think they realise, and are doing it to be awesome.
Beth- Well please take note of The Rules as outlined above.
Yeah, the more I think about Aldi, the crosser I get.
i went to aldi's right after reading this and couldn't help but chuckle the whole time....it's true, what's the race about?? i had three items and you'd have thought i had put a cart full on the belt....
I have a rule you see. If you don't want to know how someone is, then don't ask. And if you ask me, you are going to get the answer even if you don't like it.
My elevator trips aren't long enough for layers of conversation...
While I get your point Amy (ie, if you don't want to know, don't ask) I think in society there is an understood assumption, that the phrase 'how are you' means different things in different circumstances.
If I say these same words to my best friend, I expect that I get a different sort of answer to if I asked Ken the green grocer.
It's not that I don't want to know how Ken is, but I need to be wined and dined a little before he unloads on me information that I don't need.
Look to the onion.
Look to the onion.
Ben -- you're welcome! It's a great blog! Maybe I was nice on this one, but I'm positive there are other mistakes that get perpetuated through my students -- "making" parties and "other country friends" for instance ... sigh ... I'm trying ...!
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