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When I was in my mid-twenties, I learned a valuable lesson on making assumptions. Never assume anything, as it will make an ass of you and me (ass/u/me). In this next story, a man and I exchanged information but forgot that we had completely different preconceived notions. I can laugh about this now. But at the time, it could have taken an unfortunate turn. It taught me that if I am talking to someone, I need to engage in that conversation.
My tale begins in a mountain resort town. I worked as a waitress at a local restaurant. During the lunch rush on one cold winter day, I served a lovely family of four. They were an all-American family with a mom, a dad, and two kids. During the lunch service, we discussed what options the town had to offer other than skiing. As the family was leaving, the dad stopped me and asked, “What elevation do we need to be at to see the deer turn into elk?” My response was “10,000 feet”, and I shuffled off to the kitchen with the arm full of dirty dishes I was carrying.
I never gave another thought to the conversation until about three o’clock the afternoon after. It was time for afternoon prep for dinner. I happened to look out the front window of the restaurant, and to my absolute horror, four freezing people were entering the restaurant. The first words out of Dad’s mouth were, “We have been sitting up on the mountain at 10,000 feet since early this morning. and we did not see one deer turn into elk.”
I am so very grateful to have had a good poker face, even at this early age. At that moment, I learned never to assume. The gentlemen assumed I knew he was asking a serious question, and I assumed he was joking. Assuming made an ass of us both. I am not sure at what point he learned this lesson, and I am not the type to humiliate or embarrass a good guy just trying to do something good for his family. I was also a little afraid that his wife would kill him on the spot if she found out the truth.
While they were settling in at a table, I went to get them something warm to drink. While I was in the kitchen making the drinks, a friend named Joe (the names have changed to protect the innocent) and I came up with a plan to save this man’s life. I do have to admit this didn’t take place until after we had finished laughing. Joe and I took the drinks to the table, where Joe preceded to explain that I was mistaken about the time of the year this transformation would take place.
Joe and I had already decided that just in case this man didn’t learn that deer don’t turn into elk, we told him that the change takes place in the Spring. This ensured that if another adventure like this happened, it would be a great family outing.
I used to take what people said without taking in face value first. Looking at a person’s face while speaking will give you more information to interpret their meaning, and People can say whatever they like. But please always check that the body language goes with the words. We have so many things dividing our attention these days that sometimes it is easy to forget to engage in conversations.
I hope you learned something from this story. Don’t get me wrong. I feel so bad about the man and his family. I generally thought he was joking. Tell me a story of when you assumed. Please feel free to leave a comment and share.