It’s true. People get so insanely pissed off when I ask them to repeat themselves or when they think I’m not listening to them.
Angry person: “Hey! I’m talking to you! Did you hear what I said?!”
Me: “Um. No. Were you talking to me?”
Angry Person: “You trying to be funny?”
Me: “No. I just couldn’t hear you. I don’t have all my hearing in my right ear.”
Usually, the person feels awful for getting so worked up. I smile politely and tell them that it’s okay, but secretly I’m laughing inside because now, that person feels like a dick.
This is usually what happens, but the other day at work I got the opposite reaction.
Angry person to my co-worker: “Can you believe her!? I asked her a question! She’s not even looking at me!”
There were a lot of people at the nurses’ station. With lots of noise, talking, commotion, paper rustling, and such, I tend to not be able to locate sound well. So, I just tune out and sit quietly to myself.
However, at this point, all my co-workers are looking at me like I’m some asshole. I still have my eyesight and half a brain in my head. So, although I can’t necessarily hear what’s happening, I deduce that I’ve done something wrong.
Me: “Huh? What’s going on? Something happening? I don’t know.”
Angry person: “Ya! I was talking to you! What’s wrong with you?!”
All eyes are on me.
Me: “You were? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”
Angry Person (Getting angrier by the second): “What?! You didn’t hear me?!”
Me: “No. Sorry. What was it you wanted?”
She is now irate and says to my co-worker: “She says she couldn’t hear me!”
Me: “I don’t have all my hearing in my right ear. So, no, I didn’t hear you.”
The nurses’ station’s commotion stops to a dead silence.
This is where most people feel terrible for trying to publicly humiliate me. They apologize profusely and walk away feeling like a real asshole.
THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.
Instead, this little tidbit about my hearing impairment just sets Angry Person over the edge. She doesn't give a fuck.
Insane Angry Person (YELLING REALLY REALLY LOUD): “Can you hear me now? Hey! Hey! Can you hear me now?”
Everyone is in shock. Mouths open. Speechless.
Me: “Ya. I can hear you.” (We are literally 3 feet away from each other.)
Mentally Unstable Angry Person (STILL YELLING OBSCENELY LOUD): “You can hear me?! Huh?! You can hear me?! Good!”
And then she does a kind of “pshaw” type sound with her mouth, shakes her head, and looks at my co-worker with an incredulous look on her face, as if to say, “Who the fuck does this deaf person think she is?”
My hearing problem gets me in all sorts of trouble. I find myself in situations like these or worse. Because I know how pissed people get when I ask them to repeat themselves, I usually just nod and agree. I try to read lips closely, but if someone (like a boyfriend or some other significant other type person) is turned away from me, instead of asking him to repeat himself, I just nod and agree. But, really: I have no idea what’s going on. I should learn by now that this is no way to conduct relationships, because whatever the fuck I agreed to will come up later.
Oh, yes it will. Don’t think it won’t.
I will obviously not remember anything about the conversation because I never heard it in the first place and the boyfriend will get really mad at me and tell me that I never listen to anything he says.
Which is somewhat true, but it’s because I can’t actually hear the dude well enough to listen.
In most situations, I AM an asshole, but not when I can’t hear you.
So, have mercy on me.
