Bubble Van
I saw a blue Toyota Previa today. For a brief moment, I thought my parents were driving by. They haven’t had the Previa in years. It’s so weird. I feel as though that specific make of vehicle belongs to our family.
Burrito Boyz
Yesterday, I was waiting for a friend on a street corner for about three minutes. She was coming to the city to take me to see some experimental short films (that included Fred Astaire montages, so I was happy). As I waited, I heard a guy from behind me saying, “Hey.” For some reason, I assume that every “hey” in
The Name Game
At work today, I walked up to a coworker and indulged in a slice of humble pie like no other. I looked her straight in the eye and made my humiliating confession: I didn’t know how to pronounce her name. We’ve worked together for over six months. We eat salads together. She gave me her hair stylist’s number. I even trained her. But every time I needed to speak to her, I made sure I caught her eye with a brief wave, and then proceeded to chat without calling her by name. As time went on, my embarrassment grew, and I felt less and less comfortable talking to her. Didn’t she notice that I never addressed her? That I only used her name in emails, where pronunciation wasn’t an issue? So today I bit that proverbial bullet and asked her. And she told me. And all is well in the world of office conversations.
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2 comments:
I ended up at Burrito Boyz twice when I was in Toronto in April. But I never saw Ben Mulroney there!
And, how did you actually approach the name thing? Was your co-worker pleasant? Offended? Distraught? Or the more preferred: "oh don't worry, it happens all the time"?
The name thing: I think there was a bit of taking offense at first, but it soon launched into a friendly banter of all the ways I could pronounce her name. I think she thought it was funny that someone felt the need to publicly address such an issue. And now I call her by name, which is really the preferable way to address someone.
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