That's A Great Idea

More on Good Bob.

Two days after my post, Good Bob - Bad Bob, I run into Bob at our office.  He is sitting in the back in his chair (my chair when he is not there) and overhears a woman up front making an appointment for a road test.  The woman who is about 50 years old says to our office person that she is not too worried about being able to pass.  I happen to be upfront at the time and introduce myself to this lady because I notice that her test time will be one that I will be doing.  Then I head to the back where I great Bob.

Bob remarks to me that he wonders when someone says things like she is not worried about passing that perhaps this is a subconscious sign that she is actually worried about it.  I respond by telling Bob that I have noticed that at the beginning of a road test before we head out, if someone has a question about driving, then after I explain to them the proper thing to do it is very likely that they will still make the mistake they expressed concern about.  For example, I've had someone ask;  "So if I run a stop sign then that is an automatic failure, right?"  They guy proceeds to run a stop sign.  Another person will ask if they need to check their blind spots every time they change lanes and then during the test they never check any blind spots.

I thought these examples would confirm to Bob that there might be some merit to his original thesis but remember, Bob is a teacher and so his response now is to try and help me do a better job of telling a person not to run through a stop sign.  So he says to me;  "Just toward the end when I was teaching in the Grand Rapids public schools we were taught about the six ways of learning.  Some people do not respond to verbal information.  Perhaps you should get out a scrap piece of paper and diagram the proper procedures.and then point out to them during the test where this might come into play"

This makes me imagine drawing an intersection, a stop sign and two cars smashing into each other with flames and flying tires and bloody bodies on the ground.  A few crayons would help here.  But I am not a teacher, I am a people person and so I answer Bob;  "That sounds like a great idea!"  He is happy and I am happy that he is happy.

Later that afternoon I'm out with a teen age boy and I ask Corbin if the pick up truck we were in was his.  The dad tells me from the jump seat in the back that this is the dad's Toyota Tacoma but that Corbin has his own pick up.  He did not bring it because it has a manual transmission and they thought it would be easier to pass the test with an automatic.  We are midway through the route and since Corbin has had both hands on the wheel the entire time I feel safe to remark that one of the main problems with using a manual transmission on the test was that a lot of people like to keep one hand on the shifter and that can rack up a lot of points.  Wouldn't you know it, from then on Corbin takes one hand off the wheel every time he turns right.

I would like to tell Bob this the next time we meet but then again, no.  Maybe it's like the real old guy I saw walking slowly in the residential area yesterday.  He is wearing a paisley shirt in brown tones, a pair of bright blue shorts, long neon green socks and brown dress shoes.  Sometimes things just don't make sense.