I turn on the TV this morning before leaving for work and on CNN is a shot of a news reporter standing in front of a school somewhere in Oklahoma. The building looks OK but there is a lot of storm debris on the lawn behind him. The reporter says; "Fortunately we are in a mostly rural area and the only real damage where we are here are some downed power lines." The TV screen then shows the morning news anchor who looks and sounds very concerned and asks; "Is that a heavily populated area you are in now Jason?" The reporter just stares at the camera with a look that says - What kind of twit do they have at headquarters that doesn't understand the meaning of "rural"?
I thought that was a fun way to start out the day, trying to figure out what goes on in a person's mind, wondering as well if I'm the interesting person or the twit that doesn't get it.
We sometimes have people who are looking for our location and drive by it, in the same parking lot, 20 yards from where our cones and poles are set up, pass the sign that says Michigan Road Test Site, and pass the examiner (me) who is either sitting in my car or standing by the cones holding my clipboard, waiting for them. They look at our area as they drive past with a concerned look on their faces but see nothing. Eventually they come back, stop at a store that is 40 yards from us, go in and ask directions, then get into their cars and park on the other side of us, 60 yards away, and wait I guess for someone to hike over to them and ask if they need an engraved invitation. These are twits.
Then there are people like Javon. Javon is renting one of our cars for his road test. I give him the keys, tell him to get in, adjust the seat and mirrors and pull forward to the start line.
Javon takes 5 minutes to adjust the outside mirrors before he pulls forward.
When he gets to the start line I give him the instructions to drive toward the line ahead of us. Javon again takes a couple of minutes to adjust both mirrors and then pulls forward.
After I give the instructions for the first back up maneuver Javon adjusts both mirrors before starting. He does the same before the last maneuver which is the parallel park.
After he successfully completes these I get into the passenger seat and read the instructions for the driving part. When I ask Javon if he has any questions he says no but that he needs to first adjust the mirrors before starting to drive. "It really bothers me if the mirrors are not right" Javon declares.
When we are nearing the finish of the driving exam I say to Javon. "There is something that I'm really curious about. Is the closet you keep your clothes in really neat, everything in order, shirts and pants organized, even spaces between everything?"
"Why yes" answers Javon.
"And do you have everything laid out just so on your dresser?" I ask. "Everything the same, every day?"
"Of course"
Deciding to change the subject I ask Javon what he will be doing this summer. He tells me he will be working and then starting college in the fall. After I inquire as to his eventual major Javon tells me that it will be in psychology.
I tell Javon that when I was in college we use to joke that the reason people majored in psychology was to figure out what their problems were. Immediately Javon gets very defensive. "I am going to study it because I'm just really interested in how the brain works" he huffs. I calm Javon down but am having fun because he is interesting. He reminds me of other people that I know.
There are a dozen tables set up in the back of our office in Wyoming that are used for teaching driver education classes. Each table has 4 chairs. One day when I was sitting there taking a break in the otherwise unoccupied area another one of our examiners, Matt, who is 6' 10" inches tall, comes in to get something. He stops dead in his tracks and starts readjusting every chair. Watching this amused I remark; "Matt, you seem to be a little obsessive compulsive" to which Matt responds; "I prefer to call it a gift."
Well you know the first thing I'm going to do when Matt leaves. I prefer to call that the cross that I bear. I'm bad and I can't help myself.
This became evident to me when I would be at one of our furniture showrooms during market time when our showroom designer, Ed Bauman, a transplanted southern gentleman from Chokalocka, Alabama, would be there. After making sure that all the mirrors were in the proper places and the tables and lamps were set up well he would then accessorize the settings, placing each item just so. If I were to, let's say, move a chair to a slightly different angle or turn a vase 15 degrees his eye would capture the two changed items out of hundreds the instant he entered the room. This was especially amazing because Ed, like Matt, was a very big guy but unlike Matt was always in a hurry where ever he was going. Like Matt, Ed would screech to a halt and readjust everything that seemed out of place in his cosmic order. Most of the time I was too busy to get my entertainment at Ed's expense, but there were always a few slow periods.
When Matt and I were scheduled at the same test location and had people that would come around the same time I always wanted to get mine started first. I can do the initial paper work, vehicle inspection and conduct the parking lot exercises before Matt would be done with his paperwork. Matt is very deliberate. While I am one to stand by the driver's window, obtain the information and then get on with things he likes to get the paper work, take it back to his car, print every letter and number neat and precise and then I guess double check everything two or three times. Matt now works at a location up North where he is the only examiner. I'll bet the people up there love him. I know his shed looks a heck of a lot neater than ours.
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