*This story is literally true. I’m not exactly proud of it, but as the cliché goes, you had to be there.
Today, a woman unexpectedly lashed out at me. “Are you stupid? Can’t you read?” She half-shouted at me. She pointed at a sign written in a font so small that only Donald Trump’s hands could have scribbled it. For a second, I thought she might actually strike me – or worse, hand me some MLM brochures.
Instead of engaging, I pointed at my ear and made a signal that I couldn’t hear her and then faked a couple of words using sign language.
“Oh!” she said. Her face reddened.
“Sorry that you thought I was deaf? But not that you completely lost your temper over something inconsequential? Up the dosage, ma’am.” And I smiled, showing her my teeth.
It rained f-bombs, despite the forecast indicating it would be dry today.
“I can’t hear you, ma’am.”
P.S. Parenthetically Speaking 