I am often confused by the questions people ask me. For example, today I was at the laundromat washing my clothes. A man approached me while I was hanging a uniform shirt on a hanger. He read the agency patch on my shirt. I know this because he mouthed the agency name and the motto while reading. He then asked me if I knew what the last symbol meant on the washing machine. He provided me with his wash, rinse, and spin symbol knowledge and then looked at me while pointing to the last symbol and asked "What does that symbol mean?" I checked my shirt to make sure it didn't say "Maytag" on it then answered with I don't know. My silent guess is the spin and drain symbol before the door unlocks but again, I don't work for Maytag.
While speaking with someone about the latest hurricane approaching Florida, I was asked if I thought the city the person's parents lived in would be affected by the storm. After checking to make sure I wasn't secretly working for The Weather Channel I gave my best non-meteorologist answer of "All of Florida will have some impact." Of course, the sarcastic thoughts running through my head were; the storm is 500 miles wide and in some places the peninsula of Florida is just over 100 miles wide so maybe and have you heard of The Weather Channel or any other news channel that is predicting mayhem and pandemonium raining down on Florida? I was proud that my internal musings did not make it to the outside.
And of course, almost any time I am in a store, people are always asking me where to find merchandise. Seriously, can you do anything on your own? I don't want to make you believe I am anti-social but how would I know where to find the cranberries without looking around? If you saw someone wearing a lab coat in the store, would you ask them? When I am on duty, I will field every one of your burning questions that wake you up in the middle of the night. When I am off duty but still wearing the cloak of my job, can we at least have questions that are relative to my line of work?
