Communication breakdown
Over the last few days, I've learned that The Wife and I are not proficient at communicating with each other as we might like to think we are.
Exhibit 1: The story where she doesn't get to the point right away
This past Saturday she was at the ambulance building getting ready to do bills for a meeting tonight (she is the secretary for the ambulance association) when a call came in for a car accident.
I’ll let her tell the story (paraphrased, of course, but with the essence of the story still intact):
Last night I was supposed to go to stay overnight at a hospice where I volunteer. However, I received a phone call earlier in the day that the guest was quickly taking a turn for the worse, and his family would be staying with him for the duration.
So first thing after The Wife gets home, I decide to tell her that I won't have to go.
Her response: "Yay!!!"
Me: "Jeez. He's not dead yet."
Her: "Oh, I thought you were talking about the borough council meeting to which you had to go [note: she always talks in perfect English, no dangling prepositions can be hung on her]."
Me: "Er…no."
She: "Oops."
Exhibit 3: Subtlety
Shortly after that conversation, she hands me a sheet of paper with a list titled: "The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility by St. John Vianney."
Me: "Er…are you trying to tell me something?"
She: "Oh, no…no, no, no…I didn't mean it that way. It's just something I came across on the Internet today…and thought was interesting. It was more for me."
Me: "Uh huh, sure."
Exhibit 1: The story where she doesn't get to the point right away
This past Saturday she was at the ambulance building getting ready to do bills for a meeting tonight (she is the secretary for the ambulance association) when a call came in for a car accident.
I’ll let her tell the story (paraphrased, of course, but with the essence of the story still intact):
"I heard on the radio about police finding a car they had been looking for. At first, I thought it was a stolen car, but then they said it was off the road, and I knew we would be called out. Sure enough, we were."Me: Wait, he stole the car and was driving it backwards?
"When we arrived at the scene, we saw a car flipped over in a field off Mount Zion Road. We discovered the driver had fled the scene…"
"Joe [ambulance chief] was looking at the skidmarks on the roads and thought something was odd…Police then told him the driver had been driving backwards up the road...'Oh, that explains it,' he said."
"Evidently the car was a stolen car…"
"Yeah, it was a 17-year-old kid who stole the car…from his grandfather…"Ah, finally we got to the crux of the story. Why she didn’t tell me this first?
"It was the second time in the last couple of weeks that he’s stolen a relative's car…"
"Then the family is there talking about it…"I imagine a family not dissimilar to the Beverly Hillbillies, minus the Beverly Hills, standing on a porch, spitting their tobacco out off the porch in between words, as they look over the wreckage of Grampa's car.
"Well, there went Billy Bob again."
"What did he expect trying to steal Grampa's car? He should know that thing hasn't gone forward in 20 years."Exhibit 2: The story where she misses the point
Last night I was supposed to go to stay overnight at a hospice where I volunteer. However, I received a phone call earlier in the day that the guest was quickly taking a turn for the worse, and his family would be staying with him for the duration.
So first thing after The Wife gets home, I decide to tell her that I won't have to go.
Her response: "Yay!!!"
Me: "Jeez. He's not dead yet."
Her: "Oh, I thought you were talking about the borough council meeting to which you had to go [note: she always talks in perfect English, no dangling prepositions can be hung on her]."
Me: "Er…no."
She: "Oops."
Exhibit 3: Subtlety
Shortly after that conversation, she hands me a sheet of paper with a list titled: "The Seventeen Evidences of a Lack of Humility by St. John Vianney."
Me: "Er…are you trying to tell me something?"
She: "Oh, no…no, no, no…I didn't mean it that way. It's just something I came across on the Internet today…and thought was interesting. It was more for me."
Me: "Uh huh, sure."
17 comments:
A paper on lack of humility is better than getting cosmo's latest article on "Why he's lazy in bed."
THAT would be sending a message.
Recent blog:=- Sleeping Under The Stars Review
Well, now that you put it that way...
Our wives may be related.
Yeah, that happens often in our family, doesn't it? It does...truly.
(Speaking of humility, folks, my brother won't tell you that he volunteers quite frequently at the local hospice, spending his time with folks who are dying from cancer, being there so their family members can go home and rest for a bit. He's a dork most of the time, but this pretty amazing.)
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I don't understand what you're saying. (Is it a guy thing?) Also, you're much too good a person for me to sully your blog with my comments.
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Nah, I think it's a woman thing ;). On your second point, I'll try to be nastier. Come back tomorrow, I'm going to get semi-nasty.
Haha. It seems that what we have here is a failure to communicate - clearly. =-O
Recent blog:=- Everybody was Car Fu fighting
Haha. It seems that what we have here is a failure to communicate - clearly. =-O
Recent blog:=- Everybody was Car Fu fighting
I plan on marrying a women who can't read. At least then she'll be forced to come out and tell me if there's a problem in the relationship, instead of scoring the dirty, trouble causing internet to point out my flaws. =-X
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Bwahahahahaha. I'm glad it's not just the hubby and I that do this.
Have a terrific day. 8-)
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She makes perfect sense to me.
;-)
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Now I wish I had used that video. Dang it. :)
Oh, don't worry, my wife will be here later to comment. She's already told me she's stopping by.
What? You mean that we're not the only ones who have problems communicating? I am shocked, just shocked. =-O
Uh huh. I see how it works. Y'all stick together, don't you?
Dude, X and Y chromosomes don't speak the same language. It's like comparing apples to Buicks.
Recent blog:=- A Little Help?
I'd like to clarify that the night he had the meeting AND the hospice shift he simply said to me, "I don't have to go tonight," and I concluded he meant to the meeting, which was the one thing of the two things he had to do that I wished he didn't have to do because we had hardly seen each other all week.
He left out the best part of that convoluted story; the angry little state trooper being berated by the redneck family in the eerie half-light of a darkened country road. It was like COPS, only I got to stand there and soak in the social maladjustment first hand.
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