I am not making this up.
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:34 am
My friend Anita is very bright. She's trained as a psychologist, and works developing software for government agencies.
But...she has this quirk. Everything she reads, she takes literally.
When I showed her the headline, "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge," her first, honest reaction was, "How did they find tape that strong?"
She was driving to work one day and saw a sign in front of a gas station/convenience store reading, "ELF SERVICE." The rest of her drive, she was wondering what sort of service would be provided by elves and why that would be appealing to customers. It was only when she told a co-worker about the sign that the co-worker explained that it was likely just that the intitial "S" had fallen off the sign.
So, this past weekend in Tampa, she's at a spring training game at Legends Field. Around the stands, there are signs reading:
"WATCH FOR LIVE BATS AND BALLS LEAVING THE FIELD."
Well, she got as far as the word "bats" and began looking around, asking, "There are bats here? What kind?" Her good husband explained that the bats referred to in the sign were the wooden kind.
This would be a good story up to there, but it gets better.
She's leaving the ladies room at Legends Field and feels something brush against the back of her hair. The woman behind her says, "That was a bat." One of the winged kind.
Anita looks up and sees two bats- the winged kind- roosting on the wall near the ladies room.
She feels vindicated. And the guys who wrote the sign clearly knew what they were doing.
But...she has this quirk. Everything she reads, she takes literally.
When I showed her the headline, "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge," her first, honest reaction was, "How did they find tape that strong?"
She was driving to work one day and saw a sign in front of a gas station/convenience store reading, "ELF SERVICE." The rest of her drive, she was wondering what sort of service would be provided by elves and why that would be appealing to customers. It was only when she told a co-worker about the sign that the co-worker explained that it was likely just that the intitial "S" had fallen off the sign.
So, this past weekend in Tampa, she's at a spring training game at Legends Field. Around the stands, there are signs reading:
"WATCH FOR LIVE BATS AND BALLS LEAVING THE FIELD."
Well, she got as far as the word "bats" and began looking around, asking, "There are bats here? What kind?" Her good husband explained that the bats referred to in the sign were the wooden kind.
This would be a good story up to there, but it gets better.
She's leaving the ladies room at Legends Field and feels something brush against the back of her hair. The woman behind her says, "That was a bat." One of the winged kind.
Anita looks up and sees two bats- the winged kind- roosting on the wall near the ladies room.
She feels vindicated. And the guys who wrote the sign clearly knew what they were doing.