Published on 12, July, 2020
Thanks to Number in another thread (root beer) I've been thinking of the many things I've just 'not got' and done wrong.
Usually the clue that I'm not 'getting it' is the look of wonder on the faces of other people.
I'm suspecting now this may be autism related.
There are countless examples during my life but here a few.
McDonalds: I don't really understand McDonalds and I don't spend time in them without another person.
My mum used to like them so I'd take her there for lunch sometimes.
One of the 1st times she asked me to collect a menu for her and some cutlery.
I couldn't understand why these weren't on the table.
So, I went to the counter and asked for these things.
After this initial trauma, I then had the trauma of trying to understand what you are supposed to eat off of and with.
Doh.
McDonalds is a particular thing with me I think.
I was with my autistic friend on our way back from visiting his mother and we went to a McD.
He asked me to get him a 'root beer'.
So, I asked for such at the counter only to be asked what that is.
I said 'I don't know' so no root beer was presented to my friend.
Another prime example is going to a spa and swimming baths in a hotel.
I'm not a swimmer or a spa goer.
So, the 1st thing I did was put my make-up on before going there.
Then, I couldn't understand how the lockers worked and had to get assistance.
Then, I eventually found the toilets but couldn't find my way back to the swimming pool so I walked through reception soaking wet in my swimming costume.
I was also in a church once when a service began and loads of people sat around me.
I had gone in there because I was in a strange city and cold and was using the church as a refuge.
I thought I could just sit there whilst the service took place.
I hadn't anticipated communion and although I'm not a Catholic or a church goer, and although I didn't understand what I was doing, I felt obliged to follow everyone up and take communion.
There are so many examples I won't continue.
Is it just me or are there other people here who just don't 'get it?'.
I will never get why it's deemed acceptable for dog walkers to allow their dogs to urinate against people's garden hedges. It causes a lot of damage to the plants and ruins them, it should be illegal, it's damage to property. They even allow their dogs onto people's unfenced lawns to urinate, how is this 'okay'! Even in high streets - which although I rarely walk through - there can be so many dogs urinating up against everything in the street, it's just awful and totally bizarre to me.
They can't even sort out the poo problem. Even though there are fines, we still tread in or cycle on dog poo, which is vile and infuriates my husband so I get subjected to a tirade about how all dogs should be shot which upsets me as I love dogs. He is wrong because it is only a few dog owners who leave the poo and those are the problem, not the vast majority of decent dog owners and not the innocent dogs themselves.
A dog walker let her dog do a huge poo on my Dad's drive and he was so cross, but I was worried about him because he is old and lives alone and is vulnerable. The sort of person who does that might the sort of person to come and throw a brick through his window.