HER: Good morning sir, am I disturbing you?
ME: Good morning, not at all. Can I help you?
HER: Yes--hee hee! I moved into #412 this week and wanted to get my wash done. Steiner told me to pick an empty block of time on the calendar in the washroom, but there's no one using it right now, and your apartment number is on there for this morning. Do you need it?
ME: Actually, I'm 402. My neighbor Dee is 401, that's her block of time right now but she isn't home.
HER: Do you think she would mind?
ME: Well, she left a little while ago to run a pan of noodles up to the Catholic Church on Lincoln Avenue for their Friday fish fry. She may want to use it when she gets back. But I don't think anyone else is scheduled on there after her today.
HER: Okay, thank you! I like your door sign, is that Jewish? I love the Jews!
ME: Thank you... no it's not Jewish. It's uh, Vulcan.
HER: Oh.. Balkan. What country are they from?
ME: I think that's a bunch of countries but not Balkan. VUL-can.
HER: Oh, Vulcan! What country are they from?
ME: Um... a tv show, Star Trek. You know, Mister Spock. He was a Vulcan.
HER: I don't, I'm sorry! But you seem very gentle!
ME: Ha, okay... thanks, and nice to meet you. Welcome to the Tiffany.
Later, after Dee comes home. Another knocking on my door. This one is pretty loud.
ME: Hi Dee, what's up?
HER: Can I use your phone? I let my daughter borrow my phone up at Assumption, and the ding-a-ling left and took it with her!
ME: Sure--here ya go. Just tap the phone icon on the bottom.
(Dee calls her daughter and tells her she needs her phone back right away for her pills.)
HER: Here y'go, thanks.
ME: You're welcome. Hope you have a nice--
HER: Why do ya got a man on your phone? None of my business. Is he a soccer player?
ME: No, that's Captain Kirk.
HER: Did you say Catherine? You know I wear a hearing aid.
ME: CAPTAIN. Captain Kirk.
HER: Captain Cook?
ME: No Dee, forget it. He's a character on Star Trek.
HER: Sorry, I don't watch the Disney Channel. My granddaughter does though.
Too funny, thanks for the laughter.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lea, I had to share!
DeleteThat's pretty funny, Dug. Your apartment life is definitely worth sharing. Reminds me of the times I used to go to lunch with my mom and her friends (all in their 80's and 90's and all with hearing loss). The conversations were interesting and hilarious sometimes as people answer what they 'thought' was asked... but wasn't. Now that I'm 80 and have hearing aids, it's not so funny... (but I still laugh). And I learned something today... never knew Mr. Spock was Jewish! ; )
ReplyDeleteHaha thank you Rian, I'm sorry but the image you painted of your mom & friends was a bit funny... and guess what? In real life, Mister Spock really was Jewish :^)
DeleteThanks for sharing the (to me) unbelievable conversations. As a huge ST fan, I'm shocked! I thought most people, even non-watchers, would know the main characters. Wowsa!!
ReplyDeleteMargaret--me too!!! I actually don't blame the girl, she's young, like 25. BUT DEE IS 70. C'mon! Anyway thank you my Trekker friend :^)
Deletelol! Always fun around your place! So, my son moved back from London a few months back. The friend he was renting a room from is a huge Star Trek fan and is going to Las Vegas this summer for a convention, I forget what it’s called. Have you ever gone to one? Hope you have a good weekend! Joyce
ReplyDeleteThank you Joyce, that's great about your son's friend. I went to 2 in 1993 and 1996, both in Pittsburgh and they were HUGE fun. Couldn't handle all that noise and people now though! 🖖
DeleteCrazy! When I taught, I was amazed at the high schoolers who arrived without the common knowledge that I assumed everyone had. I had kids who spent their entire Sunday in church but were unable to identify biblical references (Noah? flood?) in literature. But to not know Spock or Cap'n Kirk? Incredible. People just need to watch more television! :0)
ReplyDeleteHaha Marty you're so right, thanks for giving me that laugh 😄
DeleteOh dear, young folks missed out a lot of culture (sez grand-dad, even though I don’t have any grand-kids – you probably need kids to get those).
ReplyDeleteEven I, who’s not a Trekie, know about those things. I guess if you grew up in the era it got absorbed (like knowing the words to all those fifties’ songs, whether they were any good or not).
Thank you Peter, and very true about the absorption. The girl is forgiven, my 70 year old neighbor is NOT. 😩
Delete*clutching my replicator-made pearls* 😵
ReplyDeleteJase, I can't stop chuckling! Thanks my friend 😩
DeleteDoug, this is too funny!😆 I would assume a 70 year old would know about Star Trek! Thanks for the laugh Doug, have a great weekend.❤️
ReplyDeleteThanks Robin! And I so agree, I can excuse the new tenant (she's young and made me laugh) but c'mon Dee! I want to shake her 😆 Hope you and Chuck have a great weekend too my friend! ❤️
DeleteOkay, you sure had a morning! I'm surprised you didn't mention the tenant wanting to use Dee's laundry spot, but with the hard of hearing issue, I get it. It might have been more trouble than it's worth. As for your new neighbor, I have a hunch she is not American.
ReplyDeleteNow, my story about hard of hearing folk: Last Sunday at church a lady (retired teacher, bit of a ditz, unable to hear) was handing out notices to all the women in the church about the women's fellowship activities. She was getting the names on each envelope (yes, all hand addressed and personalized!) mixed up. I was trying to explain that I had already received mine as she was going through her stack, looking for mine. Then she was trying to give one to the Patti sitting next to me but it was for another Patty. I had to shout all the corrections to her. I don't think she ever got it straight.
Still at church: Terry has come to tell me he is going home, not staying for the service as he has begun to feel ill. Seeing the choir director walking down the center aisle, Terry calls out to let him know he won't be in choir. Choir director keeps walking, also hard of hearing, so I use my teacher voice to call his name, he stops, turns, and again I speak, "Terry won't be in choir, feeling ill." at the teacher voice level.
You must learn to use a teacher voice when talking to these hard of hearing people!
Thanks for reading & sharing, dkzody--as a matter of fact, my new neighbor is American. She's just very young, 24 or 25 and didn't recognize my Star Trek plaque. And your own church story is a little sad but I must admit a little funny too, we just have to be patient with these hard of hearing people--and yes, good advice on how to talk to my neighbor! I hope Terry made it home ok!
DeleteOh, yes, Terry was fine by the time I got home an hour later. He just didn't think he could make it to sing in choir so decided it best to head home. Yes, speak loudly, speak clearly. There's a whole group of these people at our church. The bulk of the congregation is over 70, maybe even over 80. Our oldest member, 103, just passed away. Last year 8 members passed away. All of them older folk.
DeleteConfession - have never watched Star Trek. True story - I know all about the Vulcans, Dr Spock, Captain Kirk, most characters, even the actors that played them. What is up with these younger generations!!! And I will say - these conversations sound like a sitcom, lol.
ReplyDeleteMiss Merry you are keeping some late hours! Anyway I can't imagine never having seen Star Trek, but impressive you still know some of the characters. (Ahem, Dr.Spock was a baby doctor. ) 😄 Anyway, I admit I trimmed a little of these conversations, and Dee has a tendency to call me honey, but I assure you both were real! 🖖🙂
DeleteLOL, I think I proved my lack of Star Wars viewing in my comment!
DeleteMiss Merry, I believe you meant TREK. 😉❤️🖖
DeleteYour new neighbor wasn't wrong - that hand gesture is a Blessing in the shape of the Hebrew letter 'shin' used by Jewish priests to bless their congregations. Leonard Nimoy, who was Jewish, knew what he was doing when he introduced the gesture in "Amok Time," and Trekkies have been unknowingly blessing each other with it ever since.
ReplyDeleteThank you David, I actually did know this (I have both of Nimoy's autobiographies) but you gave a nice, tidy explanation of it. :^)
DeleteYou storytelling talend is stellar! I loved Star Trek and so did my long-gone dad. A good era to grow up. Kim in PA
ReplyDeleteKim! You got me at the perfect time (I was just getting ready to run to the store). Thank you so much, and very glad to read that about yourself and your dad. It was a good era :^)
DeleteHi Doug, this post makes my day. OMG, I’ll be smiling the rest of this day for sure and probably a few in the future. 😊 Doug, before I moved into the apartment where I now live, I lived in a high-rise building in downtown Seattle. The arrangements at your place remind me very much of my previous location with a laundry room down in the basement. I got to be great friends with our building Manager and have fond memories of visiting with him in his office. We would talk about all kinds of things, including how tenants were using the laundry room … sometimes not exactly according to the rules. Well, you know, there were about a dozen washing machines and a dozen dryers in there and it was not appreciated when a single tenant took their accumulated laundry in and filled up half or more of the machines. 😊 I love the way you shared your conversations with neighbors. You are lucky to have the nice young lady on your floor. I did enjoy getting to know the 10 or so neighbors who lived on my floor. It was a special community. Now, switching to another topic, not so happy … I feel so sad for DJan. It looks like this may be the first Sunday in 16 or 17 years she has not posted on Eye on the Edge. The one thing about her blogs, over the years, that I found disappointing is that she very, very rarely replied to a comment on the blog. Her thing was to come over to my blog and leave me a comment to show her appreciation and that is fine except it leaves me wondering if she saw, and what she thought about, the comment I left for her. I am concerned that her eye sight may have deteriorated to the point she will give up blogging for good. I would find that sad, for sure. Well, I guess that’s enough from me for today. I hope you are well and take good care. I always appreciate your replies here on the Teepee and on my blog as well. Best regards from Seattle, John
ReplyDeleteHi John, thanks for reading and sharing your own Seattle apt memories... and yes, I did check DJan's blogs this morning and saw no updates. I'm sure there's a lot going on with her right now with SG's recent passing (and the vision). All we can do is keep her in our thoughts and hope she is able to write again soon...
DeleteAs always, thank you, Doug, for your reply. Today is overcast, 46F, and a sort of mellow day in Seattle. I’ve been working on my blog today and catching up with some folks who have left me kind comments. I’ve pretty much decided, for me, blogging is the best form of social media. Thank you for being a part of it.
DeleteI, too, have been checking DJan's two blogs but really expecting nothing. Her eyesight, almost gone, her grief, her feeling of loss, all add up to too much to contemplate right now. When I started reading DJan she was still jumping out of airplanes. What a trip this has been with her. I am also grieving for Shirley of Boots and Braids blog. Her daughter, also Shirley, died last month and Shirley has disappeared, too.
DeleteThis post made me laugh. I did hear a bit of trivia that made me think of you. Do you realize that to save money during the filming of the original Star Trek series, some of the scenes were filmed on earth? It is true. I Snopse'd it.
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks Debby, you made my friend on the phone laugh and me too. 😊
DeleteGigi Hawaii. Haha! What a couple of loonies! Well, it made for good blog fodder. Have a good week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gigi you have a good week also. 🙂
DeleteOmg....thanks for the laugh. Did you ever think there would come.a.time when Star Trek wasn't well known? Even I who never watched knows a little about it.
ReplyDeleteHa, thank you Maebeme, and I have to tell you I honestly didn't. I guess it's another of life's "blessings" about getting old... :^(
Delete