Brain Freeze
Do you ever have those times where the combination of tiredness and familiarity make you do particularly stupid things. I had one of those today.
I work in the city of Brisbane. Outside our office is a street intersection with traffic lights. The traffic lights have been set so that when you get the green walk signal, the "ticker" also goes off to assist the blind. So you have both visual and aural cues. I had had a particularly stressful morning. I noticed colleagues diagnolly opposite on the other side of the road. I thought "I have to see one of them, I better cross when they cross." The lights changed. The ticker went off. They walked across from their side. I walked across from my side so we'd meet at the same corner.
Notice something long with this imaginative picture. Yes, I crossed against the traffic. I didn't have a green walk signal, but the traffic I was walking into did. From behind I heard someone yell my name twice, but I couldn't really understand why so I kept going. A guy in a van yelled "Get back on the footpath you idiot!" but I kept going. It was only when I was halfway across, and saw a bus coming towards me that I realised what I'd done, and then I sprinted to the other side.
My colleagues looked at me like I was a complete fool, which I was! I muttered some crap about not knowing what I was doing and that there was a problem at work. Then I slunk off. Later on that afternoon when I went out to go to the shops, at the same intersection another colleague grabbed me and said "Now, do you need to hold my hand to cross?" Obviously, my brain freeze was noticed by more than one person. *Sigh*. At least I'm still with us!
Ciao for Now, Familiarity Breeds Idiocy Angry Dad.
I work in the city of Brisbane. Outside our office is a street intersection with traffic lights. The traffic lights have been set so that when you get the green walk signal, the "ticker" also goes off to assist the blind. So you have both visual and aural cues. I had had a particularly stressful morning. I noticed colleagues diagnolly opposite on the other side of the road. I thought "I have to see one of them, I better cross when they cross." The lights changed. The ticker went off. They walked across from their side. I walked across from my side so we'd meet at the same corner.
Notice something long with this imaginative picture. Yes, I crossed against the traffic. I didn't have a green walk signal, but the traffic I was walking into did. From behind I heard someone yell my name twice, but I couldn't really understand why so I kept going. A guy in a van yelled "Get back on the footpath you idiot!" but I kept going. It was only when I was halfway across, and saw a bus coming towards me that I realised what I'd done, and then I sprinted to the other side.
My colleagues looked at me like I was a complete fool, which I was! I muttered some crap about not knowing what I was doing and that there was a problem at work. Then I slunk off. Later on that afternoon when I went out to go to the shops, at the same intersection another colleague grabbed me and said "Now, do you need to hold my hand to cross?" Obviously, my brain freeze was noticed by more than one person. *Sigh*. At least I'm still with us!
Ciao for Now, Familiarity Breeds Idiocy Angry Dad.
posted by Wes at 10:35 pm
3 Comments:
Guess you had someone looking out for you.....yikes.....
Perhaps if you would have gotten a little more sleep that wouldn't have happened....just sayin...hehe
Angel on your shoulder dude...
Whoa. Glad you are okay!
"the combination of tiredness and familiarity make you do particularly stupid things"
well said. boy do am I familiar with that recipe for disaster.
Lisa
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