Thursday, October 22, 2015

What a good day for hiding forever

Ever jam your foot in your mouth so hard that it was pretty much a case of shoving your foot out your own ass?

 That was me today. Tug captain with a stern demeanor, a guy I've never had a problem with, but apparently with a dry sense of humor, goofed on me making a minor boo-boo, and yelled 'get yer head outa yer ass!'

 What followed surprised even me. Total misread of the situation. I read it as him seriously being critical... and, stunned, said nothing, staring open-mouthed for about 5 seconds...and then absolutely EXPLODED. I cussed that captain up one side and down the other for a solid 30-45 seconds, saying some genuinely foul things... and he stares at me, open-mouthed, too, and says 'Jesus Christ, I was joking around with you! Didn't you see me smiling?"

 No shit. Soon as he said that, I realized that this captain had a very dry sense of humor and could nail a deadpan delivery- and I responded by being an utter dick.

 I wanted to light myself on fire at that point, but settled for apologizing profusely. What followed was about a half hour of hell, where I had to look at him, and his deckhand, who heard the whole thing, but tried to make me feel better by saying that he thought the captain was being serious at first, too.


 I'm not autistic, at least I didn't think so until today. I'm usually pretty good at reading social cues. Don't know where the hell I missed it, where I didn't see that this guy was looking to kind of establish a new rapport in our working relationship, where we could goof on each other lightly... and I proceeded to shit on that by getting absolutely premenstrual.

 Well, lesson learned. I told the captain later than they had to go, as I was too damn ashamed of myself to keep looking at them. To his credit he waved it off, saying that I wasn't going to live today down so easily.

 Anyhow, that was my moment. I know I have a big damn mouth sometimes, and definitely Monday Morning Quarterback more than I should, but that was a new low. Thank God the captain was cool about it. There are other folks, guys very much like me, that could have taken a poorly-received joke and escalated it into a moment where things go downhill even faster. Thank Goodness cooler heads prevailed.

 Obviously, after that I had to hide my face and not be seen in public. I went into full retreat, and still haven't poked my head outside, 8 hours later.

4 comments:

Bob said...

Ya gotta remember to keep yer cool - - like Mr. Scott, here:

https://youtu.be/tMrzdKzQTf8

;-)

AIS said...

Thanks for writing, I'm really happy that I can read some nice posts.

Anonymous said...

I have a gene that leads me into playing with folks that are wound too tight to talk to. A buddy tugged a light aircraft wing into a hangar door one dark night. The jury was out as to whether he'd lose his job. I come to work at 2:00 pm, start ribbing him, then "pretend" to throw water on him..... Always check the chamber, every empty cup is loaded. Soaked the front of his shirt. He picked me up and almost threw me across the ramp. It broke his mood, but dang, I wish I didn't have that defect. Kinda like Captian Tugboat I guess.

STxRynn

Capt. Craig said...

You gained one in my books today. I have been following you on and off for quite a while now and your hot temper has always been a concern to the point where I was waiting for it to cause you some irreparable grief. You learned a lesson but the fact that you related it shows that you are made of sterner stuff.

Stay cool and safe.