Teachers, aren’t you always telling your students to read the instructions? I know I did. But do I do it myself?
Today I walked to the post office to mail two packages of books and renew my passport at the passport window. (I’d tried this errand yesterday, but with only a credit card, I failed, because the post office’s internet was down, and without my checkbook, I couldn’t write a check for the passport fee.) Today I brought sufficient cash to pay for the packages.
Next, the passport window. The woman there took one look at the form I’d filled out and said, “Well, I can’t take this. Didn’t you read the instructions?” She pointed to a line of rather small type right under the heading at the top of the form. The smallish type read: “Please Print Legibly Using Black Ink Only”
I had used blue ink. I got the feeling that lots of people brought forms filled out in blue, or red, or even purple ink, and that she rather enjoyed pointing out how stupid, or lazy, she thought we were. And I guess we are, especially those of us who’ve admonished others for not reading the instructions. Now I just have to find a pen with black ink in my home.
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I’m participating in the 14th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 30 of the 31-day challenge. It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about. Join in!
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