001: Reasons I drink
I am an architect. At least, I am going to school to become one. After studying architecture for five years and practicing drafting for eight, is it not likely, at some point, I learned to use a ruler? But I am getting ahead of myself.
Like most of us, my job, unfortunately, requires me to collaborate with other professionals in order to achieve the end product. However, more often than not I am greeted with the utmost condescension from these individuals. Shamefully, I can understand where this is coming from. I look young so I must not know better. I'm pretty so I must be confused. Appearance can be a powerful thing, but one could imagine that a telephone line would act as a buffer between this sort of judgement. After speaking over the phone with a contractor about our project, he kindly informed me that my drawings were not scaled correctly. Knowing full well that my drawings were to scale I politely replied that he must be mistaken.
"Sweetie, I don't know what size you think these drawings are, but your counter is coming out at four feet."
(This was, in fact, the correct dimension.)
I wasn't so offended by the term of endearment as I was by the demand for a new set of drawings and the sudden click that signaled the end of the conversation. I sat fuming for a while, not knowing how to proceed before the senile old man called me back shortly to apologize. I was not tickled, but I quickly came to realize that his assumption of my incompetence was not entirely unwarranted. How often do we come in contact with people who are incapable of performing even the simplest tasks? The waitress that takes the wrong order. The cable service that can't fix your connection. The uninformed. The inadequate. The impotent. We are surrounded by an entire population of people that suck at what they do. Worse, there isn't even any need or desire to improve because we simply accept the service that is offered to us.
Ineptitude.
Reason I drink.
No comments:
Post a Comment