Today while sitting in the waiting room of a physician’s office, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a conversation with a little old lady. I didn’t notice our conversation at first because she was seated on my right side, or my “deaf ear” side.
I usually love striking up conversations with strangers, but not today. Today, I was in a hurry. All I wanted to do was get in, do my song and dance for the doctor, and get out as fast I could. A conversation would have just lead me to being distracted and losing track of time.
What was far more important was me maintaining eye contact with the receptionist so that she would bring me back as soon as the doctor came out of a room. This was not a good time for a friendly chat with Aunt Bee.
Unfortunately though, some people can’t take a hint. Give her a courtesy laugh but don’t look up. Answer her questions in only one word - or even in a grunt, if possible! Pull out the phone and pretend that you’re answering urgent emails. Heck, pretend that you’re answering urgent phone calls!
But this woman was determined to pull me into a two-way conversation so she asked me a question that made me stop and belly-laugh out loud.
“Is that thing in your ear a hearing aid or a telephone?”
(She was thinking it was a wireless headset for a cell phone - my hearing aid isn't that big!!)
“Ha! Hard to tell these days, isn’t it?”
At that point she had me roped in. I listened as she told me about how she used to work with the deaf, had MS and was trying to find an internist who would take Texas Medicaid for her mother – I gladly gave her a few recommendations.
A few moments later I found myself in front of a doctor who was trying to give me a hint. He was in a hurry and had no time for conversations today. I thought about asking him if that thing in his ear was a stethoscope or a telephone. Not thinking my question would go over as well as Aunt Bee’s, I instead obliged the doctor and headed out to my next stop.
Funny how the person I was waiting around to talk to wasn’t near as interesting as the person who I tried avoiding all together.
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