Situation that I found funny.....

L

laurabeth

New Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Hello Everyone,

I'm relatively new here, but I wanted to tell you about a situation that I found particularly funny.... perhaps I shouldn't, but I did.

My husband (who hears perfectly well) and I are renting out a room to a friend who is down on his luck. He gives up a few dollars a week, and we give him a roof over his head- so far it has worked will for everyone involved.

Our friend has a habit of telling long involved stories that might or might not have a point to them, and he also has a habit of walking or turning away during portions of the story, making understanding him extremely frustrating to say the least.

So one day, he was going into one of his stories while I was doing dishes. So, I stopped what I was doing, and looked up to follow the conversation. Sure enough, in a few minutes he started to walk away and go behind a nearby door. So, I went over to him, tapped him on the shoulder and explained that I needed to see his face to understand what was being said. He apologized, but a few minutes later did the same thing over again. Once again I asked him to face me, etc. The whole scenario repeated itself about three times.

Well, unbeknownst to me, my husband was watching the whole thing and was getting more irritated with our friend. At the last time our friend turned away from me, he came over and grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. In a gruff voice my husband (6'2" 300 pounds mostly muscle-but a teddy bear at heart) told our friend that "he had better start treating his wife with some respect and talk to her face like he was asked to." and forcefully sat our friend down in front of me at the kitchen table.

Now, when our friend tries to talk to me he takes a deep breath squares his shoulders, leans in, and look DIRECTLY at me while he was talking. I have no illusion that this will be maintained, but it is funny to see someone make such a concentrated effort, and reassuring to know that my hearing hubby has got my back.

:giggle:

Hope you're all having a good day!

Laura
 
Good Story. Also good to know that your husband cares so much for you to do that.
 
My ex-wife, all 4'11" of sweetness, did the same for me with her gf. I guess it how the hearing voice comes out because the voice must be much bigger than the person.
 
Aww, great husband you have who is willing to get what you need!
 
I've noticed a lot of hearies become sort of "self-conscious" when speaking to a deafie who is "reading their lips"....ur husband could "hear" the whole conversation and I assume that you were "reading the man's lips", correct?

Hearing people turn their heads, walk off, still talking....it's "normal" to them....What I don't undy is that the man "went behind a door", still talking several times....was he "hiding" behind the door?...If so, he did not want you to know what he was saying....perhaps it was "profane language" in a story he was telling? even a joke? And thought it might embarrass you?....Then again, there are people, especially hearies, that cannot "sit still" and converse....they are always "walking, pacing, etc."....It's their normal way.

Otherwise, I really "don't get it"!...Any normal or even half-intelligent person would know a deafie can't read lips if they are "hiding behind a door."

But it's good ur husband got this man "straightened out"!...HAHA!...
 
Hi Robin,

As near as I can tell there was no profanity, I think my friend/tenant was just that clueless.... :lol:

But to give a bit of a clarification -- yes I was "lip reading" (is that the correct term? It's hard to know). But anyway, basically this guy likes to move when he talks, and he also was looking for something, so he went into the other room and partially closed the door to look behind it, rounded the corner out the kitchen and my line of sight, etc, talking the whole time. I guess because I don't "sound deaf" to him he forgets. *Shrug* I have to laugh when he gets all exasperated with me when he yells from upstairs for something and I make him come to at least the top of the stairs so I can see his face. I guess the exercise of walking ten feet from his room to the top of the stairs is too much of a strain. :roll:

"Life is good when you don't take it too seriously"

Laura
 
The man may have ADHD. They tend to have the need to walk while they are talking. It's very hard for them to sit still. If this the case, more likely the man will forget what your husband have warn him about. The best thing you can do is tell him that you have a hard time understanding him when he pace around like that so he'll have to keep his story short so you can keep with him better that way.

That way he won't start wondering around if his stories get too long.
 
laurabeth said:
Hi Robin,

As near as I can tell there was no profanity, I think my friend/tenant was just that clueless.... :lol:

But to give a bit of a clarification -- yes I was "lip reading" (is that the correct term? It's hard to know). But anyway, basically this guy likes to move when he talks, and he also was looking for something, so he went into the other room and partially closed the door to look behind it, rounded the corner out the kitchen and my line of sight, etc, talking the whole time. I guess because I don't "sound deaf" to him he forgets. *Shrug* I have to laugh when he gets all exasperated with me when he yells from upstairs for something and I make him come to at least the top of the stairs so I can see his face. I guess the exercise of walking ten feet from his room to the top of the stairs is too much of a strain. :roll:

"Life is good when you don't take it too seriously"

Laura
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what I figured was going on...He "forgot" you were deaf!...And since ur husband is hearing, it was normal for him to "walk around" while talking....I've had people yell at me when I was walking away, forgetting I was deaf....even calling my name from upstairs when I was downstairs....It's happened to a lot of deafies....

But, maybe after ur husband did what he did (haha)...he "might" remember next time that ur deaf!...If not...keep ur sense of humor...
 
A said:
The man may have ADHD. They tend to have the need to walk while they are talking. It's very hard for them to sit still. If this the case, more likely the man will forget what your husband have warn him about. The best thing you can do is tell him that you have a hard time understanding him when he pace around like that so he'll have to keep his story short so you can keep with him better that way.

That way he won't start wondering around if his stories get too long.
Click to expand...

You know, that's a very good point- I didn't think of the possibility of him having ADHD. It would explain a lot of his traits, etc.

As for shortening the story, I'm pretty sure it's an impossibility-- we're talking about a man who took 15 minutes to ask me if he could borrow a particular glass from my cupboard!

All and all though, he's a great guy- just not exactly ummm... aware of people around him?

Laura
 
laurabeth said:
Hello Everyone,

I'm relatively new here, but I wanted to tell you about a situation that I found particularly funny.... perhaps I shouldn't, but I did.

My husband (who hears perfectly well) and I are renting out a room to a friend who is down on his luck. He gives up a few dollars a week, and we give him a roof over his head- so far it has worked will for everyone involved.

Our friend has a habit of telling long involved stories that might or might not have a point to them, and he also has a habit of walking or turning away during portions of the story, making understanding him extremely frustrating to say the least.

So one day, he was going into one of his stories while I was doing dishes. So, I stopped what I was doing, and looked up to follow the conversation. Sure enough, in a few minutes he started to walk away and go behind a nearby door. So, I went over to him, tapped him on the shoulder and explained that I needed to see his face to understand what was being said. He apologized, but a few minutes later did the same thing over again. Once again I asked him to face me, etc. The whole scenario repeated itself about three times.

Well, unbeknownst to me, my husband was watching the whole thing and was getting more irritated with our friend. At the last time our friend turned away from me, he came over and grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. In a gruff voice my husband (6'2" 300 pounds mostly muscle-but a teddy bear at heart) told our friend that "he had better start treating his wife with some respect and talk to her face like he was asked to." and forcefully sat our friend down in front of me at the kitchen table.

Now, when our friend tries to talk to me he takes a deep breath squares his shoulders, leans in, and look DIRECTLY at me while he was talking. I have no illusion that this will be maintained, but it is funny to see someone make such a concentrated effort, and reassuring to know that my hearing hubby has got my back.

:giggle:

Hope you're all having a good day!

Laura
Click to expand...

You have a great support system in your husband. Three cheers for him!:cheers:
 
Sounds like your friend has an ADD problem. I use to have a roomate that did that. I just got use to ignoring him and when he would come back for a response I would call him an idiot for leaving the room. After about a month he got good at stopping the conversation when he left the room and restarting it when he came back. Sounds confusing and horrible but it worked for us.
 
Back
Top