Friday, June 01, 2007

Usually, I'm Pretty Smart!

But there's always an exception to that rule! Oh, yes there is.

I consider myself to be a pretty smart cookie, and what I may lack in common sense, I make up with my wonderful personality ... in fact, I know I'm smart, because I'm made in the Lord's image, and frankly, no one's as smart as he is, and that's gotta say something, right??? um ... anyway ... At work, I have to analyze commodities, market rates, financial documents, overheads, estimates, etc. So, yeah, I figure you have to be pretty smart for that, right?

So I thought... until about 45 minutes ago, when one of the estimators came to my desk to go over his basis for his pricing on a new estimate. He's very young, very smart, married to a beautiful Mexican woman, and he's just about to be a daddy, so we talk a lot, as we find we have much in common. He speaks a wee bit of Spanish, I speak Spanish fluently, and I love to tease him about his "accent."

Anyway, he came to my desk and started to go over his pricing basis -- he told me that he followed the 6/10 rule, and "...based it on the duty of the current estimate over the duty of a past estimate which was 2528 mmbtuh versus 3320 mmbtuh which, when applied to the total cost, and divided by itself, then taken to the sixth power gives you your new cost."

I just nodded as if I was agreeing (and understood), but the more he droned on, the more I stared at him, a little bit glassy eyed, and when he was finished, I said what would only come natural in a circumstance like this... "Yes, well ... I used a curling iron this morning. Sometimes, I'll flatten my hair with an iron, and sometimes, I'll use curlers. Sometimes, I even leave it curly with some product in it. "Product" can be either gel, or cream, or mousse ... whichever one is appropriate for my mood ... and when combined with another product, such as a fiber-forming cream, mud, wax, pomade, or glue of sorts, and applied to the hair along with several spritzes of hairspray, I then usually get the desired outcome."

He looked at me like I had fallen out of the "stupid tree" and hit every blond-haired branch on the tree (sorry, blonds) as I was falling. I looked right back at him, and said, "When you were telling me your pricing basis, I felt just as confused as you do this very minute. Habla Ingles, por favor."

I think he got the point, and went over it in layman's terms before he left, but he couldn't wait to get out of my cube.

I was left staring at my screen feeling oh, so stupid... but with good hair.

10 comments:

Donnetta said...

Snickering... ok never mind... LAUGHING out loud!!! That was too funny! Great word picture for him though! Doesn't sound like it took all that long to realize he wasn't speaking..."English"

Susanne said...

Well at least you had a great LOL comeback, which in turn, gave you a great post. I would have just sat there and said, "Huh?"

You are way much quick on your feet!

Rocks In My Dryer said...

Sorry, but you lost me on the first "commodities"...

Anonymous said...

lol i think you showed him :)

Shalee said...

Good grief... I like the way you explained that you didn't understand. I usually look at the speaker and say, "Talk to me like I'm a 5 year old and help me understand." You're way would make me look a lot smarter...

Diane Viere said...

Hysterically funny and profoundly BRILLIANT!!!! You were speaking Chinese--he was speaking French! You gave him a taste of his own torture!!!!!! Love! Love! Love It!

You are so funny! And quick! I have been known to just sign the forms and try to translate later...your example is one I will live by for all future! Thanks!

Diane

Overwhelmed! said...

Oh my gosh, that was too funny! Great way to make him stop and think about his approach. :)

Stacey said...

That was wonderful! I love it!!

Kimmie said...

okay, you lost me on most of it...;-) sheepish grin. But, I agree we are made in the image of God and you are smart.

Thanks for helping me, we are working on a homestudy for our adoption...and I always am stumped when he (the social worker who is doing our homestudy) asks me to list off my strengths...I guess I feel weird talking myself up??

(I have had 14 years of secondary infertility...so we have something in common...even if I don't get the numbers stuff ;-)

Kimmie
Mama to 6
one homemade and 5 adopted (working now on an adoption to Guatemala)
Come meet us, we love new friends!

Laura said...

Hilarious! I agree, it's all about the hair :)