{This is a sponsored post}
The people at Alka-Seltzer are looking for your funny stories about miscommunication–you know, when you say one thing and someone hears something totally different. They asked me to write about one of my experiences, and immediately I thought of my husband, BSB, because he has been teased by his family about the Dorkhead incident for years!
Afraid I would tell it the wrong way, I asked him if he would write up the story for you, and he did! Take it away BSB…
Photo source: here–we think this may be the actual site of the incident!
The Dorkhead Incident
I love rocks.
Wherever I go, I find myself staring at the ground, looking
for new
rocks to add to the collection I have been building since I was four
years old.
And, while
driving
cross-country, if I’m not behind the
wheel (and sometimes even when I am)
I am looking at the mountains,
hills, rocks, rivers, and plains.
On one occasion when
I was about fourteen years old, I was traveling with my family near
Kingman, Arizona. It
was early in the morning, and the sun had just
come up. As we crested the top of a hill,
I looked out across the
desert landscape towards a rock monolith that is set back several
hundred feet from the highway (it’s still there – I drove past it
again a few months ago).
At the base of the rock
there is a rectangular doorway that was cut into the
rock,
likely
leading
into a cavity that had been hewn into the
rock to serve as a stable or
storage room.
In my excitement
I
loudly said, “Look at the door cut into the foot of the mountain!”
After several moments of silence, someone said, “What?” I repeated
what I had said about
what I had seen. And then the laughter started.
But I was confused, because the laughter
was directed at me.
Confused and a little hurt, I wasn’t sure what was so funny. It
turned out that what each member of my family had heard was, “Look at the Dorkhead
at the foot of the mountain!”
For the rest of that trip, and many trips since, someone in my family has recalled the incident by saying
“watch out for Dorkheads..
.” Well, it’s not my fault that some
folks can’t hear properly.
Do you have a funny story like BSB’s? Leave a comment below so we can all have a good laugh! You might want to submit it to the Alka-Seltzer Said/Heard Mishaps Contest on the Alka-Seltzer Facebook page,
The winner of the Said/Heard Mishaps Contest will receive:
- A trip to New York City to star in an Alka-Seltzer online video featuring their entry
- The winning spot will premiere on the Alka-Seltzer Facebook page!
- Plus $5,000 to spend toward whatever they wish.
That seems like pretty good recompense for having suffered the indignity of being misunderstood!
Abbreviated Contest RulesNO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.), 18 years or older. Contest ends 2/25/11. To enter and for Official Rules, including prize description, visit http://www.facebook.com/
Thanks to TheMotherhood and the Alka-Seltzer brand for compensating me for this post!
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This is HILARIOUS! I hope you win the contest 🙂
I am 9 months, 4 days pregnant with my second son. To kill time, I take my 22 month old to the local park. There I meet an out of town visitor with his children. He asks my son's name. I say "Jack".
"Chuck"? He replies.
"No Jack" I answer.
He then tells me how special the name Chuck is to his family (the name of his grandfather that just passed away and the reason they are in town).
I decide not to correct him. I will never see him again and I will be in the hospital any minute now. I've got bigger issues here.
Next day. Now 9 months, 5 days pregnant. Again Jack and I go back to the park. It's empty and I am relieved. Suddenly the visitor and his whole family now enter the park. No way he remembers yesterday. Yep. He introduces me to everyone and my son Chuck. Poor Jack just looks at me very confused. We leave in a hurry.
Next day. I am 9 months, 5 days pregnant and finally scheduled today to be induced. The most embarrassing part of this whole Chuck saga is that I had to explain the whole story to my in-laws just in case they ran into the visitors at the park and some stranger was calling my son "Chuck" and the poor kid was answering because I told him to go with it : )
Jenny,
You should totally enter the contest! That is hilarious? Say hi to Chuck for me! 🙂
Kendra,
Ha! Maybe I will enter! I hadn't thought about that story in so long!
Poor Chuck 🙂
xoxo,
Jenny