words fail me.

Sunday, July 1

Over the past few days in work I’ve noticed: a lady with a necklace made out of toy cars (like this one... quite unusual), a baby with yellow and black stripy socks on (like bumblebees), and rain-soaked mothers and primary school children pouring into the cafe for ice-cream (yesterday was the last day of school, i.e. the official beginning of the summer holidays). 

 
I also was reminded of how important and useful it is to try and think about what you’re going to say before you speak (unlike earlier on today, when I had a slightly awkward mind-blank moment:

 

INT. Cafe kitchen – afternoon
Very noisy (plates clattering, fish fryers bubbling, chefs shouting). Gruff looking MAN enters wearing a black t-shirt and a tool-belt. MAN approaches ME.
    MAN: I’m here to fix the cold room.
    ME: (pause) What was that, sorry?
    MAN: The cold room. I’m here to fix the cold room.
    ME: (slightly confused) The cold room?
    MAN: (slightly irritated) Aye. The cold room.
    ME: Oh! (walking to the walk-in fridge and opening the door) Do you mean the fridge?
MAN looks at me blankly.

    ME: (turning to the walk-in freezer and opening that door... it’s cold. It could technically be called a ‘room’.) Or the freezer?
    MAN: (narrowing his eyes) I was called about the cold room. I’m here to fix it.
    ME: (pause) I’ll go get my manager.
INT. Cafe floor
A minute later. Very noisy (babies crying, saxophonist playing, coffee grinder ...grinding)
    ME: (standing on my tiptoes, because I’m short and my voice doesn’t carry very far) There’s a man here --- something about ‘the cold room’ --- he’s in the kitchen --- he wants to see you.
    MANAGER: (can't hear because of the noise) What’s that?
    ME: (louder) A man --- in the kitchen --- to see you---?
    MANAGER: What sort of man?
    ME: (walking and talking over my shoulder) He’s a --- um, a man with tools (walking towards the kitchen) --- he’s a --- he’s a fixer.
    MANAGER: (following me through doors to kitchen) a fixer?
INT. Kitchen
    ME: Yes. Um --- he’s --- a fixer --- a fixer of freezers --- or fridges --- a fixer.
    MANAGER: (not understanding) A ‘fixer’?
    ME: (getting a bit flustered because I've forgotten the word) A --- he’s a freezer fixer or something ---you know? He’s here to fix the cold room --- he’s a fixer... person.
    MANAGR: What ---?
    ME: A fixer --- he’s a ---
We arrive back where MAN is standing.
    ME: (relief) Oh! He’s over there.
I leave them to it and hurry away to avoid further word-fails.)

The word I was looking for (which I didn’t come across until about half an hour later, and only with the help of another waitress) was handyman. Handyman! Not ‘fixer’ (!) Ah dear...

(Pictures from: Yelena Bryksenkova. Beautiful pictures... which are, again, unrelated to the actaul content of the post!)

4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your noticing! My eyes are not so keen, i have such a poor attention span and memory (sometimes i forget what clothes im wearing and worry that i am actually naked O_O)

    Haha sadly i can relate to the mind blanking moments >_< sometimes i just trail off mid-conversation and just completely forget what my point is. My brain is a pile of turds. xx

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  2. Yeah, I do that as well (the trailing off thing) when I think people aren't listening, ha ha. Quite a bad habit really, because it makes people less inclined to listen. ('That girl never finishes her sentences')

    x

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  3. So what did he mean by the cold room? Did you ever find out? x

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  4. You know, I actually never did. I think it WAS the freezer, ha ha.

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