Communication Breakdown

So here is the scene in my office today: My assistant, Mrs. S, is out sick. So I am working with Ms. P, whom I have worked with in the past, we have a good relationship. Ms. P is a divorced mother of 3, in her mid 50s, and very nice. So I am coming out of a meeting and Ms. P is talking to someone at the front desk and then makes a comment so I can hear that goes something like this:

“…and then Brandon keeps bugging me for this and that….” (laugh laugh). 

So I say, “Hey, my wife isn’t here for me to bug, so I have to bug somebody.”

To which Ms. P says, “Yea, I have a lot of practice at that. I’m still pretty good at it.”

……………uh…………..uh………….head scratch…………What in the world does that mean?

To which I just nod and say, “Right.” , and then scurry to my office.

My topic today is about inter-communicative oddities. Namely, what to do when someone you are having a conversation with says something that makes absolutely no sense. My immediate reaction is to file a sexual harassment complaint. I mean, times are tough, it’s worth a shot and the kids need summer clothes. Besides, when was the last time you felt like someone insulted you and/or possibly your wife, or maybe insulted the other person in the room she was talking to?  It doesn't matter.  Everyone does it.  She's had a lot of practice at it and she's still pretty good at it.

I guess I could have actually said, "I'm sorry, what did you say?  Could you please explain what you meant when you said......"  But no.  That would be overstepping some social boundary.  I believe it's the same boundary that exists around the "I'm sorry waiter, this isn't what I ordered" territory.

I think my first exposure to this method of communication was when I was about 16 I was standing in my grandmother's driveway.  She and I were talking and her neighbor came outside and shouted something to my grandmother.  She smiled, said, "Yes, yes." and then we turned to go back into her house.  I asked her what her neighbor had said, because I didn't hear it, and my grandmother said she didn't know.

Didn't know?  

I asked, "What if she had just tried to tell you her mother had passed away?  Your response was a smile and 'yes, yes'.  What do you do then."

Older people probably get away with this much more than they should.  I actually think that is how wars are started.  Someone says something like, "Hey, are you harboring terrorists here?"  and the people respond with a smile and "Yes, yes."  What they thought they heard was "Today new barbering therapist's gear."'

"Earn more sessions by sleeving." Or something like that.

Can we all have a word we say when we have something like that happen?  Could there be a code word for the time when you don't understand what the person just said?

Let's use "Jethro".