When my mom orders a dozen of something through a drive-thru, she’ll say “a dozen [whatevers] . . . TWELVE.”
That’s all because of one order a long while ago, when my parents ordered a dozen biscuits from a Hardee’s. The cashier paused for a second too long, then asked:
“How many is that?”
We all laugh. Then I remember.
People kinda have to do similar with me.
Just the other day, Mrs. H2 asked for
- two slices of toast
- with homemade jam
- that we just got as a gift
Ok, that’s easy. So I
- toasted two slices of bread
- applied the homemade jam
- that we got as a gift
I bring it over. She asks: did you butter this?
Let’s look over items 1, 2, and 3 again.
Toast. Jam. Specifically, the gifted jam. There’s no butter.
“No, I didn’t butter it?”
My best (also breakfast-related mishap) was when I was sent to get “plain old Maple syrup” — here were my options:
Did I pick the wrong “plain old Maple syrup?”
Of course I did.
This is why The Life Autistic is just hard. There are so many assumed, unspoken specifics we just miss.
We can try. It’s a learning process, bizarre as it sounds. But in the meantime:
Don’t assume; do specify!
We’re working on this, and it’s ok for y’all to be specific, spelling things out, and making sure you’re coming across as unambiguous. It’ll help!
The Life Autistic 