Often what came out of my mouth sounded really really dumb. Or was a really really dumb thing to say given my actual knowledge of whatever subject was currently being discussed. I would immediately regret opening my mouth ... but it was always too late and my words and my thoughts were "out there" for people to have a good laugh at ... and repeat.
But ... I do have the ability to laugh at myself - truly laugh at myself - which is essential really when you grow up being referred to as DB.
Here's an example ...
My - now -sister and law and I moved in together after we had both finished school and had our first post University/College jobs. One day shortly after we had moved in she was watching TV and realized that we had well over 100 channels to choose from. She kind of panicked and thought we might end up receiving some massive cable bill so she took action and called the cable company immediately to discuss our options.
When the cable company answered the phone and asked what they could do to help, Erin (my - now - sister in law) explained that we were new to the apartment (which was actually a wicked cool three bedroom house that we'd rented) and that we didn't want whatever massive cable package the previous tenants had subscribed to ... so over the phone in that INSTANT the woman on the other end of the phone said "OK, you've been disconnected."
So Erin kind of freaked and said, "well wait a minute ... what package did they have?" And the woman said that the previous tenants had basic cable and they paid $20.00 a month for the service.
Obviously, Erin was irritated at this point and explained to the woman that if all those channels were basic cable and it was only $20.00 per month then we would like to continue on with the service that was currently being provided and simply change the subscribers names on the bill.
The woman was silent for a minute and then said "OK, well I can send a truck out to you sometime in the next two days to get you connected and that will be a $40.00 charge on your first cable bill."
At this point Erin was furious and very professionally but firmly explained to the woman that it was highway robbery to disconnect someones cable OVER THE PHONE before proper information is passed along to the client and then turn around and charge that same client $40.00 to send a truck out to reconnect the cable service that was just disconnected OVER THE PHONE.
We didn't win the fight and the woman agreed to send a truck as soon as possible but that ultimately, if we wanted to watch TV we would be responsible for the $40.00 connection fee.
Later that evening when my brother and I were both home from work the three of us were passionately discussing how completely stupid and idiotic this whole cable situation was and how the woman on the phone was obviously hired by the company to rob people of their hard earned cash and be a total wanker on the phone and how completely stupid cable was - that it could be disconnected over the phone but that a truck had to be sent out to reconnect it and how we probably weren't even really disconnected (except that all the channels we had been getting were all fuzzy and snowy) ... and I said this ...
"Besides ... every idiot knows there is absolutely nothing to do with the TV on the outside of the house anyway ..."
And then there was silence.
And then there was uproarious laughter - from my brother and Erin.
And I just stood there waiting to get the joke.
My brother finally managed to choke out, "only the cable box ... the cable box is on the outside of the house."
And I was like "oh .... yeah, I knew that" - because I really did. Because I had just graduated from Radio and TV Broadcasting.
Yup. Three years. Radio and TV Broadcasting.
And of course "every idiot knows ..." has turned into a family joke that will simply not go away. Ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment