hockenwocky

This is a part-time faculty office here. Anyway, I must tell you one story, this one’s hilarious! I laughed so hard, this is one of the best stories I have ever seen. My friend named Shane told me this story. He is from Kentucky. He is about my age, maybe several years younger than I am. Anyway, he was telling this story to me. He was born with normal left ear but on the right side there was nothing and it was closed (he is deaf in both ears). It is kind of deformed developed on right side of the face. When he was growing up, his deformed area really bothered his mother. She had to beg him to go to the audiologist to get a prosthetic ear made. He told her that he did not want to, but gave in for her sake. So he went and got the prosthetic ear. It attached his head by some kind of magnet that held the ear in place. In this way, people would see him just like any other normal person and overlook his deformed ear. He put up with it all through high school. When he went on to college, he stopped using it and ever since. However, during high school, he was still using it for his mother‘s sake. Anyway, one time he went to a restaurant, looked up at the big menu board above the cashier, and decided what he wanted, and proceeded to order. He informed a female cashier that he was deaf and wanted a piece of paper and a pen to order. The woman had a puzzled look on her face and said “May I Help You?” He said, “I can’t hear you and I need to write.” She repeated the same thing, but louder this time. He was agitated by her response. “I CAN’T HEAR – I NEED TO WRITE!” (sigh). She is still doing the same old thing again! This time she was basically screaming something more than just CAN I HELP YOU!?!?! He became so frustrated! He mouthed I CAN’T HEAR!!! He took off his prosthetic ear off and shoved it in her face. She was shocked and stunned by seeing it inches away from her face and was taken aback. She frantically fumbled around to get a piece of paper and pen to him. He was satisfied and put it back on. She was rendered completely speechless as he was writing his order. After that she was attentive and responsive as she processed his order. This is the best story ever told. We (deaf) wish that we could be like Shane. Imagine if we all had prosthetic ears so whenever hearing people were giving us a hard time, we would shove it in their face every time and they will “eat crow” every time. We would be feeling so good about ourselves, right? Chuckles.